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From Sanctity to Screening: Genetic Disabilities, Gendered Harms, Risk and Rhetorical Strategies in Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life Cases

Mackenzie, Robin (1999) From Sanctity to Screening: Genetic Disabilities, Gendered Harms, Risk and Rhetorical Strategies in Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life Cases. Feminist Legal Studies, 7 (2). pp. 175-191. ISSN 0966-3622. (doi:10.1023/A:1009235602773) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:13136)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009235602773

Abstract

This analysis scrutinises the rhetorical strategies used by judges in wrongful life and wrongful birth actions as evidence for the assertion that the judicial reading of public policy in such cases has undergone a significant shift which is likely to accelerate as genetic knowledge grows and health care resources shrink. The implications of the predicted move towards increased genetic testing of prospective parents are traversed in relation to feminist analyses of the impact of genetics on reproductive technology. These are viewed as forming a nexus with the current social constructions of disability and the contemporary cultural preoccupation with risk, in a context of the increasing commercial importance of genetic information. It is argued that women cannot make free and informed choices about genetic testing and pregnancy unless legal and social mechanisms which protect those choices are in place.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1023/A:1009235602773
Subjects: K Law
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Depositing User: Amy Parkes
Date Deposited: 22 Jan 2009 09:50 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:51 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/13136 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Mackenzie, Robin.

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