THE MEANING OF THE ACT - REFLECTIONS ON THE EXPRESSIVE FORCE OF REPRODUCTIVE DECISION-MAKING AND POLICIES

Prenatal and preconceptual testing and screening programs provide info rmation on the basis of which people can choose to avoid the birth of children likely to face disabilities. Some disabilities advocates have objected to such programs and to the decisions made within them, on t he grounds that measures taken to avoid the birth of children with dis abilities have an ''expressive force'' that conveys messages disrespec tful to people with disabilities. Assessing such a claim requires care ful attention to general considerations relating meaning, intention, a nd social practices; it has only begun to receive such attention. Buil ding on work by Alien Buchanan, who has challenged this claim, I furth er consider the disabilities advocates' objection, ultimately concludi ng that it is misplaced; neither individual actions nor general practi ces of this type necessarily express disrespectful messages.