Testing for fetal defects.

Good article in today's N.Y. Times on testing for fetal defects. The ethical issue is an interesting one, succinctly described in the article this way:

The wider range and earlier timing of prenatal tests are raising concern among some bioethicists and advocates for disability rights who argue that the medical establishment is sending a message to patients that the goal is to guard against the birth of children with disabilities.

"By putting them out there as something everyone must do, the profession communicates that these are conditions that everyone must avoid," said Adrienne Asch, a bioethicist at Wellesley College. "And the earlier you can get it done the more you can get away with because you never have to tell anybody."

Some doctors, too, say they are troubled by what sometimes seems like a slippery slope from prenatal science to eugenics. The problem, though, is where to draw the line.