Limited and Limiting Knowledges: Talking to Clients about Prenatal Screening

This paper explores reflections from ten Canadian clinicians (nurses, midwives, family physicians and obstetricians) regarding their responses to women who decline prenatal screening. Additionally, it explores selfreported provider reflections on the biases they may bring into communicating with their clients/patients about these screens. Prenatal screening, while most often understand as a positive set of practices designed to provide pregnant women with helpful information about their unborn babies, touches on some of our most deeply held social, political and ethic beliefs. In this paper, prenatal screening is situated within social contexts of risk, disability, eugenics, and informed choice. As highly medicalized societies develop ever more accurate technologies, to test earlier, more accurately, with less risk and less expense, it is argued that we must simultaneously push for broad social reflection and analysis of the values, morals and ethics embedded in these screens.