EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES
المؤلف:
APRIL HAMMOND
المصدر:
Caring for People with Learning Disabilities
الجزء والصفحة:
P165-C10
2025-10-29
53
EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES
History, unfortunately, for adults with learning disabilities is not the only barrier standing between them and their credible status as parents or potential parents. The science of genetics has impacted on society’s tolerance towards people with learning disabilities by providing parents-to-be with a means to determine whether their unborn children with disabilities live or not. Parents-to-be can choose not to give birth to seriously disabled babies, as clarified in the Abortion Act 1967, in which it states that it:
‘Will not be unlawful . . . if there is substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.’
There are up to 100 conditions detectable in the womb (Hernstein & Murray 1994) and over 90 per cent of those who know that their fetus has Down’s syndrome terminate the pregnancy (Ward 2001). Such figures bring to mind the consideration of ethical issues such as: Will parents who choose to have the disabled child feel discriminated against? And will there be further implications for adults with learning disabilities who are, or who wish to become, parents? Genetic screening has also evoked eugenic values, as demonstrated in China, where, in 1994, a eugenic screening program was introduced to reduce the number of ‘inferior births’ (Ward 2001). There are concerning issues, too, regarding how human characteristics are defined and valued in society and who makes those decisions on which characteristics are valued and which are not. Also, eugenic beliefs are still being sanctioned in current literature, as cited by Lyn (2001), who maintains that ‘The belief in the eugenic objectives of eliminating genetic diseases, increasing intelligence and reducing personality disorders remain desirable’.
However, genetic counselling and technology, although often used as a means to assist in determining the characteristics of the unborn child, cannot be held accountable for how the characteristics are valued and whether or not a child will be born. In fact, genetic counselling can also be perceived in more positive ways, such as enabling parents to seek out information and support prior to the birth and by providing evidence that not all learning disability characteristics are genetically based.
The following case study considers the genetic issues that might affect a married couple who have learning disabilities.
Case study
A couple, who both have mild learning disabilities, lived in a residential home, fell in love and married. They were then supported to live in their own flat in the community. After five years of marriage, they decided they wanted children and each had expressed this wish independently to their support worker.
The support worker, however, is concerned, as the wife has Down’s syndrome and she wonders whether or not the child might have Down’s syndrome and whether the couple will be able to cope with this.
• What advice, if any, should the support worker give this couple?
• How might the couple feel if they are advised to seek genetic counselling?
• Is the support worker valuing their wishes?
How people with learning disabilities are valued in society is still greatly debated by people with learning disabilities, their families and service providers. Since the closure of the institutions and the implementation of the Care in the Community Act 1989 and the White Paper Valuing People (Department of Health 2001), there has been a considerable and positive change in the welfare of people with learning disabilities in all areas of their lives. However, it has also been acknowledged that people with learning disabilities are still being under-valued and discriminated against (O’Hara & Martin 2003) and one area in which this appears prevalent is the way in which parents with learning disabilities are perceived, particularly by the services that support them (Booth et al. 2005; Woodhouse et al. 2001).
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