Women's voices: Prenatal diagnosis and care for the disabled

The development and implementation of prenatal diagnosis has changed the ex perience of pregnancy for many women. How women make decisions about prenat al diagnosis PD is an important question that challenges us both individual ly and as a community. The question of care is central to many women's deci sion-making process. How much care a child will require, how much care a wo man feels confident to provide, and the level of care available for childre n with genetic conditions and families from their communities all impact on women's decisions to undertake prenatal diagnosis as well as how to use th e information available from testing. Interviews with women making these de cisions explored, among other things, the role that caring and access to ca re played in women's ethical deliberations. Before PD can widen women's rep roductive choices and counter criticisms that its use is eugenically orient ed, the central role that provision of, and access to, care holds for parti cipants in PD programmes must be acknowledged and addressed.