Current problems regarding abortion, prenatal genetic testing and managing pregnancy
Authors: Klajn-Tatic Vesna 
Published: January 2012

Current ethical and legal issues with regard to abortion, prenatal genetic
testing and managing pregnancy are discussed in this paper. These problems
are considered from the legal theory point of view as well as from the
standpoint of the Serbian Law, the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, European Court of Human Rights, legal
regulations of several EU countries, the USA, Japan, and their judicial
practice. First, the pregnancy termination standards that exist in Serbia are
introduced. Then the following issues are explained separately: the pro life
and pro choice approaches to abortion; abortion according to the legal
approach as a way of survival; the moral and legal status of the fetus;
prenatal genetic testing, and finally matters regarding managing pregnancy
today. Moral and legal principals of autonomy, namely freedom of choice of
the individual, privacy and self-determination give women the right to
terminate unwanted pregnancies. In addition, the basic question is whether
the right of the woman to abortion clashes with the rights of others.
Firstly, with the right of the "fetus to life". Secondly, with the right of
the state to intervene in the interest of protecting "the life of the fetus".
Third, with the rights of the woman?s partner. The fetus has the moral right
to life, but less in relation to the same right of the woman as well as in
relation to her right to control her life and her physical and moral
integrity. On the other hand, the value of the life of the fetus increases
morally and legally with the maturity of gestation; from the third trimester,
the interest of the state prevails in the protection of the "life of the
fetus" except when the life or health of the pregnant woman are at risk. As
regards the rights of the woman?s partner, namely the husband?s opinion,
there is no legal significance. The law does not request his participation in
the decision on abortion because the decision is exclusively brought by the
pregnant woman. Critics of prenatal genetic testing claim that the woman?s
autonomous choice is seriously prejudiced, as the women are pressured first
with genetic testing and then with abortion, if the test is positive.
However, there are views that many parents are left to bring their decisions
in a vacuum because the physicians do not discuss all possible available
options with them out of fear that they will be perceived as orders. Genetic
counseling has an aim to facilitate informed reproductive decisions. Rigid
application of policies on non-directive genetic counseling make pregnant
women and families unaware of the nature and consequences of the genetic
state which could affect the future child. If the real goal is an informed
choice then it is the obligation of the physician-specialist to inform the
parents with the facts and familiarize them with the true state. Managing
pregnancies today medicalizes and pathologizes all pregnancies, and not only
the risky ones. Since these techniques are becoming a routine part of
medicalized pregnancy managing, pregnant women find it difficult to resist
undertaking such technologies or to refuse them. Thus the question on how
much these technologies offer sensible choices is imposed. Generally
speaking, it is stated that women are becoming observers rather than active
participants in giving birth to a new life. Attempts of legal control over a
pregnant woman for the protection of "the life of the fetus" violate the
woman?s human rights in democratic societies.