Selective Abortion: A New Moral Order? Consensus and Debate in the Medical Community

Abstract

The authors discuss the results of a survey of the attitudes of Canadian and French (Picardie, Nord-Pas de Calais) physicians toward selective abortion of fetal anomalies detected by ultrasound, amniocentesis, or chorionic villus sampling. The study documents the threshold of acceptability of abortion of fetuses with selected anomalies, as well as the physicians' own perceptions of their role in the decision to abort. While there was no consensus among all Canadian physicians regarding the acceptability of abortion, more than 55 percent from France and Quebec would accept selective abortion of a fetus affected with trisomy 21, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, Huntington's chorea, or spina bifida. In the province of Quebec, Anglophone physicians showed a greater acceptance of abortion than did their French-speaking colleagues. In reference to the physician's role in the decision to abort, French physicians are more directive than North American physicians. Cultural predispositions may explain these differences in attitudes.