While inquiring into stress and parenting a child with a disability I found an article about the dilemmas of genetic testing. I did not contemplate this as a stressor when I began this blog but it most definitely should be considered as one. If a genetic screening comes back with a positive result, parents are forced to make decisions about carrying the pregnancy to full term. Parents are faced with a stressful, possibly life altering decision. Expectant mothers do not have to agree to genetic testing but it is recommended by most obstetricians. The article I read was written by Shelley Burtt who has taught at Yale University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also the author of Virtue Transformed (Cambridge, 1992). Burtt gave birth to a son diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome and can appreciate the challenges of parenting a child with a disability. She stated that, “Parenting this child forced us to reconsider our conception of what qualities and capacities made life worth living; the joy my son clearly took in life and the joy he gave us compelled such a re-evaluation.” This article made me stop and think about the magnitude of deciding, what constitutes a life worth living and who should decide? I did have prenatal screenings with both of my pregnancies. Regardless of the results, I would not have terminated my pregnancies. I wanted the tests in order to be better prepared and informed. If a positive result occurred I wanted to be ready to fully support and take care of my child.

“Genetic testing gives us the tools to choose in advance against certain sorts of lives. How are these tools to be used? What sort of lives are worth living?” (Burtt, 2012)

Which Babies? Burtt, Shelley // Tikkun; Jan/Feb2001, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p45