The relation between the dignity of the disabled person and the value of human embryos

Abstract

In the last few decades, it has been notorious the increased offer of genetic testing for prenatal diagnosis as well as their application for pregnancy interruption or discarding embryos in assisted reproduction. At the same time, many movements and organizations have emerged to affirm the dignity of people with disabilities and their right to the full inclusion of their lives in society. This article intends to analyze these two movements and highlight their contradictions. We question whether it is possible to dissociate the anomalous embryo and fetus disposal practices from eugenics’ assumptions of the early twentieth century, and the consistency of such practices. The deliberation is conducted considering that clearly we are looking at movements that point to opposite directions and the discussion needs to be expanded coherently. Movements in favor of people with disabilities have already achieved many legislative and political advances in recent decades, however, they still have a lot to confront in relation to the medical or deterministic model of disability, which has been built and socially reinforced pointing disability as a problem to be eliminated. This discourse peaks with the legitimacy conferred to genetic testing as a way of overcoming the problem of disabilities by eliminating the “disabled” themselves.