Normalizing Disability in Families

5 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2015

See all articles by Mary Crossley

Mary Crossley

University of Pittsburgh - School of Law

Date Written: August 24, 2015

Abstract

In “Selection against Disability: Abortion, ART, and Access,” Alicia Ouellette probes a particularly vexing point of intersection between ART (assisted reproductive technology) and abortion: how negative assumptions about the capacities of disabled persons and the value of life with disability infect both prospective parents’ prenatal decisions about what pregnancies to pursue and fertility doctors’ decisions about providing services to disabled adults. This commentary on Ouellette’s contribution to the symposium titled “Intersections in Reproduction: Perspectives on Abortion and Assisted Reproductive Technologies" first briefly describes Ouellette’s key points and her article’s most valuable contributions. It then suggests further expanding the frame of reference in the discussion linking prenatal selection against disability, laws prohibiting prenatal sex selection, and fertility specialists’ discrimination against disabled adults. Viewing decisions about who can reproduce and what children will be born as fundamentally decisions about family suggests ways of drawing on intersectional approaches and growing public acceptance of nontraditional families to promote acceptance of people with disabilities as valued family members – without limiting reproductive liberties.

Keywords: prenatal selection, assisted reproductive technology, disability discrimination, reproductive rights, reproductive liberty, family privacy, sex selection, prenatal screening, reproductive medicine, legislation

JEL Classification: I12, I18, J12, I31, J78, K23, K32

Suggested Citation

Crossley, Mary, Normalizing Disability in Families (August 24, 2015). Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Summer 2015, U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2015-29, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2649967

Mary Crossley (Contact Author)

University of Pittsburgh - School of Law ( email )

3900 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States
412-648-5300 (Phone)
412-648-2649 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.pitt.edu/people/mary-crossley

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