The Moral Landscape of Prenatal Diagnosis

This chapter deals with the Swedish regulation of prenatal diagnosis and the various arguments posed for or against such regulation, including whether there should be any changes in the legislation of late-term abortions. Using the metaphor ‘moral landscape,’ it explores how actors such as physicians, disability organizations, and women’s organizations negotiated their position on an issue that was shaped by novel medical technologies, reproductive rights, the status and rights that were ascribed to the fetus, and societal attitudes toward people with disabilities. The chapter demonstrates how the various paths through the moral landscape were guided not only by bioethical principles but also by efforts to negotiate and reconcile sometimes conflicting values and practices of prenatal diagnosis. However, in the end official Swedish regulations defended women’s reproductive rights while fetal rights, based on the idea that life was inviolable from conception, constituted only a narrow path in the landscape.