ABSTRACT

This paper looks at three televised examples of pregnant women grappling with prenatal testing. In these stories, prenatal testing for disability is increasingly being framed as a requirement of responsible motherhood, and termination of pregnancies with diagnoses of disability shown as the logical choice. Disability is frequently depicted to be an anxiety-inducing or disappointing outcome. Previous research has shown televised depictions of pregnancy to be influential; the narratives illustrated here reinforce the discourse that disability is a burden for potential parents and entrench the view that fetal value is defined by “health,” which is constructed in binary opposition with disability. Ultimately, these media depictions can have far-reaching effects in terms of pregnant people’s feelings about the need to use prenatal testing, their diagnoses, and their decisions regarding both testing and termination.

摘要

本文着眼于三个电视转播的孕妇努力进行产前检查的例子。在这些故事中，残疾的产前检测越来越多地被视为负责任的母亲的要求，并且在诊断为残疾的情况下终止妊娠是合乎逻辑的选择。残疾经常被描述为引起焦虑或令人失望的结果。先前的研究表明，电视上对怀孕的描述具有影响力。这里的叙述强化了残疾是潜在父母的负担的论述，并巩固了胎儿价值由“健康”定义的观点，“健康”是与残疾二元对立的。最终，这些媒体描述会对孕妇对使用产前检查的必要性的感受产生深远的影响，