Pathways to Affluence: Socioeconomic Incentives in Prenatal Testing and Abortion

In this chapter we discuss the ways in which a ‘healthy’ pregnancy is frequently seen as a more worthwhile pregnancy—and, by extension, evidence of maternal success—while deviation signals the pregnant woman’s failure. We argue that, as prenatal screening has continually expanded, so, too, has womens’ perceived duty to pre-emptively assess the value of their future child as an individual and as a productive citizen. The underlying assumptions of such calculations, how they have been mobilized to promote universal prenatal genetic screening, and what they reveal about society’s perceptions of the roles and duties of potential mothers as arbiters of entry into human society, is the topic of this chapter.