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  • Title: Informed consent or institutionalized eugenics? How the medical profession encourages abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome.
    Author: Dixon DP.
    Journal: Issues Law Med; 2008; 24(1):3-59. PubMed ID: 18771038.
    Abstract:
    Many women are unprepared to make prenatal decisions about fetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome because of societal pressures to have "normal" children, a negative view of persons with disabilities by many in society, a fear of legal liability by those in the medical community, the lack of genuine informed consent before undergoing genetic testing and abortion, and the failure of non-directive pre-abortion counseling in the medical community. Moreover, medical professionals fail to communicate correct and unbiased information before and during the genetic screening, diagnostic testing, and abortion decision-making process. This article addresses the contributing factors and causes that ultimately lead to a lack of informed consent and a very high abortion rate for fetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome.
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