{"id":236,"date":"2026-07-20T15:01:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/?page_id=236"},"modified":"2026-09-10T07:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:00:43","slug":"genetic-screening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/project-strands\/genetic-screening\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetic screening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The development of genetic screening technologies has always polarised opinions, and the history of its stakeholders, advocates and opponents has yet to be explored. This project is divided into two strands, the first of which uses a Mass Observation directive on \u2018Genes and Genetic Testing\u2019 to explore public attitudes towards disability, pregnancy, and popular understandings of science in early twenty-first century Britain. The second strand examines the arguments put forward by disabled feminists in the 1980s and 1990s which drew attention to the conflict between disability rights and genetic screening for specific impairments and conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key research questions include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To what extent does women\u2019s ambivalence about genetic screening reveal their complex and nuanced attitude towards abortion?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How did self-styled \u2018ordinary\u2019 people understand and articulate an ethics of genetic screening?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How prevalent were discourses around \u2018designer babies\u2019?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How did the politicisation of both disability and gender inform the arguments put forward by disabled feminists about the eugenicist implications of genetic screening?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What types of expertise underpinned these arguments and what do they reveal about the tensions between scientists, medical professionals, and disabled people?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"464\" height=\"612\" src=\"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Genetic-screening.jpg\" alt=\"The green front cover of a 1989 report published by the Royal College of Physicians entitled \u2018Prenatal Diagnosis and Genetic Screening: Community and Service Implications\u2019.\" class=\"wp-image-265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Genetic-screening.jpg 464w, https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Genetic-screening-227x300.jpg 227w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Prenatal diagnosis and genetic screening: community and service implications \/ a report of the Royal College of Physicians.\u00a0Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/wellcomecollection.org\/works\/kd87b8tw\">Wellcome Collection<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The development of genetic screening technologies has always polarised opinions, and the history of its stakeholders, advocates and opponents has yet to be explored. This project is divided into two strands, the first of which uses a Mass Observation directive on \u2018Genes and Genetic Testing\u2019 to explore public attitudes towards disability, pregnancy, and popular understandings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":228,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"iawp_total_views":18,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/267"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}