Jefferson, M. F.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 43 | Number 2 Article 115-1-1976[Book Review of ] Prenatal Diagnosis and SelectiveAbortion, by Harry HarrisM. F. JeffersonFollow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqPart of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health SciencesCommonsRecommended CitationJefferson, M. F. (1976) "[Book Review of] Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion, by Harry Harris," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 43 :No. 2 , Article 11.Available at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol43/iss2/11and without them it would cease to exist as that object, then these are the properties that an object has essentially. With this basis established, Brody sets out to de-termine what properties are es-sential for being human and at. what point does a fetus have these properties. He rejects the theory that the fetus is human at the moment of conception; for al-though the biological character-istics of the fetus have by then been determined, it does not fol-low that the fetus already has all these properties. "What the fetus has is the chromosomal mecha-nism by which the properties are finally produced. Therefore, it does not follow that the fetus out of which "A" will develop is iden-tical with "A" and, like "A," is a human being." Brody takes his stand concern-ing the beginning of human life from the opposite spectrum, through an analysis of death. Arguing from recent studies about the time of death, Brody says, "The traditional definition of death, we could all agree, needs to be modified one more time to read: a person is dead only if there has been an irreparable ces-sation of spontaneous and natural cardiac and respiratory functions and there has been an irreparable cessation of brain function. But suppose we have the latter condi-tion without the former one, wherein t he brain has ceased to function but the heart and lungs have not ... is the person dead if his brain has suffered irrepar-able and massive damage what-ever the state of his heart and lungs?" To this question, Brody would say yes, and so he con-cludes that there is only one prop-erty which is essential to humani-ty and that is the possession of a brain that has not suffered an ir-reparable cessation of function. He then maintains that the fetus acquires the potential of es-sential humanity when the fetus actuates the structures of a func-tioning brain, which comes at about six weeks. While tradition-al Catholic thought would push back the time of personhood even further, Brody's position is cer-tainly more plausible than the Supreme Court's which has evad-ed the issue or put humanity at the time of viability; and Brody's chapter on "Abortion and the Su-preme Court" is a lucid and logi-cal critique on the Court's shoddy thinking in this area. Patrick F. and Carol A. Berger, Ph.D.'s St. Louis University Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion Harry Harris 101 pages. Harvard University Press, 1975. $6.00 In a very few pages, Harry Harris, Galton Professor of Hu-man Genetics, University of Lon-116 don at University College at the time the book was published, has compiled technical information Linacre Quarterly which should be valuable to any generalist who has an interest in genetic defects. The writing style is clear, direct and easy to fol-low. Professor Harris defines the framework of his position at the beginning in his Introduction. He recognizes that the int roduction of precise techniques for the pre-natal diagnosis of a variety of dif-ferent genetic defects represents a new departure in medicine not because of the nature of the tech-niques but because of the objec-tive at which making the diag-nosis is aimed. · Professor Harris attempts to choose neutral language. He uses the term "selective abortion" for that carried out specifically be-cause the foetus has been shown to be either affected by or having a high probability of being affect-ed by a particular abnormality. He also distinguishes between in-fants and children on one hand and foetuses on the other because of the desirability of differentiat-ing clearly between the infant or child after birth and what it is at an earlier stage of development. It is strange that Professor Har-ris, renowned as one of the world's leading medical geneti-cists, ignores that the difference in time and place that the stages of development represent be-comes a criterion for separating the affected foetus from the hu-man family and from human con-cern. Thus, the terms he prefers are no less loaded than the ones that stress the humanity of an unborn child in the intrauterine May, 1976 stages of development. The book defines the scope of prenatal diagnosis describing techniques of amniocentesis and tissue culture as well as distribut-ing pregnancies having the great-est risk of involving a severely abnormal foetus into four main diagnostic categories. These are (1) chromosome abnormalities diagnosed by cytogenetic tech-niques; (2) X-linked disorders where sex determination is the guide for action; (3 ) 'Inborn er-rors of metabolism' depending on specific enzyme assay or other biochemical characteristics; and ( 4) neural malformations such as anencephaly or spina bifida where estimation of alpha-foetoprotein in amniotic fluid is informative. Effects on the incidence of ge-netic disease of prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion of abnor-mal foetuses are discussed con-cisely but thoroughly. On ethics, Professor Harris uses the forceful arguments of the human geneticist Lejeune, discov-erer of the chromosomal basis for mongolism, to expound the tradi-tional view that abortion is mor-ally indefensible. He fails to achieve balance because of the advocacy of "selective abortion" that permeates the book. The tra-ditional position is characterized by words of vaguely negative con-notation such as "absolutist" or " pat moralizing." Although ac-knowledging that Lejeune has been careful to avoid taking his stand on the basis of religious doctrine, Harris defines Lejeune's position as identical with the 117 orthodox Roman Catholic posi-tion, the party line of orthodox intellectual abortionism. He de-clares that moral attitudes to-ward abortion of the medical pro-fession and other leading sections of established society in England and most parts of the U.S.A. have undergone almost complete re-versal in one or two generations without stating the basis for his generalizations. His suggestion that those who would protect the lives of the genetically-defective unborn are less aware of the social impact of such abnormal mem-bers is trite. Prenatal Diagnosis and Selec-tive Abortion can be a useful book but the effect of such a book on a generation of medical stu-dents and doctors trained in medicine without an ethic could be disastrous for an unsuspecting society. M. F. Jefferson, M.D. President, National Right-to-Life Committee Legal Challenges to Behavior Modification: Trends in Schools, Corrections and Mental Health Reed Martin R esearch Press, 2612 N. Mattis Ave. , Champaign, Ill. 61820. 1975, VII + 179 p ., $5.95 Behavior modification has come under considerable legal attack in settings ranging from prisons to schools, and techniques ranging from psychosurgery to token economies. The issues are diffi-cult and varied, and the disputes they have occasioned are not like-ly to be easily resolved. Books which attempt to summarize legal developments in t his area for "the practitioners of behavior change and the administrators of such programs in public institutions" are therefore to be welcomed. The danger in any such book, how-ever, is that complex issues will be made to appear simple, and that general statements of the "law" will sometimes be more misleading t han informative. 118 While much of this book is in-sightful and of high quality, it is marred by its conceptual ap-proach, its uncertain organiza-tion, its uneven organization, and its uneven documentation. The major difficulty arises from the attempt to treat behavior modification problems generical-ly, dealing with programs in "schools, corrections, and mental health" as if the legal issues in-volved did not vary significantly, depending upon the program's setting. This problem is especially troubling in the chapters on con-sent and records. What children, prisoners, and mental patients can consent to varies widely from state to state, yet this fact is not mentioned. The chapter on rec-Linacre Quarterly 

[Book Review of] \u3cem\u3ePrenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion\u3c/em\u3e, by Harry Harris

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[Book Review of] \u3cem\u3ePrenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion\u3c/em\u3e, by Harry Harris

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