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	Institution: STANFORD Univ Med Center  | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In Vol. 2 No. 11, November 1993   Archives  •  Online Features Ethics  This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal Tomorrow's Prenatal Genetic Testing Should We Test for 'Minor' Diseases? Carson Strong, PhD Arch Fam Med. 1993;2(11):1187-1193. Abstract New test prenatally for a wide range of fetal genetic characteristics. One consequence will be an expansion of potential reasons for selective abortion following prenatal testing. It will likely become possible for patients to request prenatal testing and abortion not only for serious diseases but also relatively mild diseases, late-onset diseases, treatable diseases, elevated risks for common diseases, and eventually nondisease characteristics, such as height and body build. Two main ethical views concerning prenatal testing have been advocated: (1) Prenatal testing should be restricted to the "most severe" disorders, involving profound retardation, severe physical handicaps, or prolonged physical suffering and (2) Patients' requests for prenatal tests should be honored except for diseases considered to be "too minor." At least two additional views can be identified: (3) Physicians should honor requests for prenatal testing for diseases, including relatively minor ones, but not requests pertaining to nondisease characteristics and (4) All requests for prenatal tests should be honored. A difficulty with the first and second views is that they deviate from the norm of nondirectiveness in prenatal testing and counseling. The problems with the fourth view are that it leads to abortions for morally trivial reasons and that attempts to design our children could adversely affect parent-child relationships and exacerbate current social inequities. These considerations support the third view, which holds that the future role of reproductive genetic testing and counseling should be based on the imperfect, but helpful, distinction between disease and nondisease. Author Affiliations From the Department of Human Values and Ethics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis. THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES Reproductive cloning combined with genetic modification Strong J. Med. Ethics 2005;31:654-658. ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT   Parental Autonomy and the Obligation Not to Harm One's Child Genetically Green J Law Med Ethics 1997;25:5-15.   Genetic Testing and Traditional Values O'Connor Arch Fam Med 1994;3:307-307. ABSTRACT   Genetic Testing and Traditional Values-Reply Strong Arch Fam Med 1994;3:307-308. ABSTRACT   HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | PHYSICIAN JOBS | HELP CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP   © 1993 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.