Current Legal Challenges to Abortion: Implications for Prenatal Genetics

ELSI Friday Forum • July 9, 2021

Multiple US states have passed laws limiting the ability to terminate a pregnancy affected by Down syndrome or other genetic conditions, with the Ohio version of this law recently upheld by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (Preterm Cleveland v. McCloud). Yet historically, the relationship between prenatal genetics and abortion has always been complex. Options for prenatal genetic screening, diagnosis, and intervention have increased dramatically, but data suggest that a majority of pregnant people who receive a fetal genetic diagnosis in the US choose to terminate their pregnancy. If laws curtailing or eliminating the option of abortion in these cases are upheld, what role can and should genetics play in prenatal care? 

• Panelists Ellen Wright Clayton, MD, JD and Marsha Michie, PhD
• Moderated by Laura Hercher, MA, MS.

Please see the attached transcript and resources files (located in the upper right-hand corner of the page) for more information on this topic, as well as the ELSIhub Collection "Current Legal Challenges to Abortion: Implications for Prenatal Genetics."