Genetic testing is shaking the mindset even of abortion advocates, says the New York Times. Although 70% of Americans would support women who terminate a pregnancy if a child has a serious genetic defect, all but the staunchest supporters of pro-choice policies question whether any defect whatsoever is reason enough. The problem is that the pro-choice stand is colliding with a commitment to tolerance of human difference. And now that tests make it possible to select for late-onset diseases like breast cancer or arthritis, and may some day make it possible to select for intelligence or eye colour — not to mention sex — pro-choice disability advocates are finding hard to draw the line.

“It so buys into this consumer perspective on our children,” says Marsha Saxton, of the World Institute on Disability, in Oakland, an abortion-rights supporter.

Some religious conservatives say that they trust God to give them the child that is meant to be,” wrote Ann Althouse, a law lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, on her legal blog. “But isn’t there something equivalent for social liberals? Shouldn’t they have moral standards about what reasons are acceptable for an abortion?”

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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