{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,11]],"date-time":"2025-11-11T12:48:25Z","timestamp":1762865305119},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"9","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Ethics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>During the 1970s, prenatal screening technologies were in their infancy, but were being swiftly harnessed to uncover and prevent spina bifida. The historical rise of this screening process and prevention programme is analysed in this paper, and the role of ethical debates in key studies, editorials and letters reported in the<jats:italic>Lancet<\/jats:italic>, and other related texts and governmental documents between 1972 and 1983, is considered. The silence that surrounded rigorous ethical debate served to highlight where discussion lay\u2014namely, within the justifications offered for the prevention of spina bifida, and the efficacy and benefits of screening. In other words, the ethical justification for screening and prevention of spina bifida, when the authors are not explicitly interested in ethics, is considered. These justifications held certain notions of disability as costly to society, with an imperative to screen and prevent spina bifida for the good of the society.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.2006.018697","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,30]],"date-time":"2007-08-30T17:21:47Z","timestamp":1188494507000},"page":"501-507","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Ethics, justification and the prevention of spina bifida"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Wendy Jane","family":"Gagen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeffrey P","family":"Bishop","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.1","first-page":"1012","volume":"7943","year":"1975","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jonsen A R. The birth of bioethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195103250.001.0001"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.3","unstructured":"Peterson A, Lupton D. The new public health: health and self in the age of risk. London: Sage, 1996."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Berridge V. Health and society in Britain since 1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511622199"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.5","unstructured":"Baggot R. Public health policy and politics. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.6","unstructured":"Department of Health and Social Security, Department of Education and Science Scottish Office and Welsh Office. Prevention and health. London: HMSO, 1977 (Cmnd, 7047,."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.7","unstructured":"Shorter E. The history of the doctor-patient relationship. In: Bynum WF, Porter R, eds. Companion encyclopaedia of the history of medicine. London: Routledge, 1993."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.8","unstructured":"Skrabanek P. The death of humane medicine and the rise of coercive healthism. Bury St Edmunds: The Social Affairs Unit, 1994."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.9","unstructured":"Health Departments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Prevention and health everybody\u00e2\u0080\u0099s business. A reassessment of public and personal health. London: HMSO, 1976."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.10","first-page":"198","volume":"7770","year":"1972","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.11","first-page":"1065","volume":"7915","year":"1975","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.12","first-page":"1551","volume":"7895","year":"1974","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.13","first-page":"1323","volume":"8026","year":"1977","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.14","first-page":"939","volume":"7886","year":"1974","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.15","first-page":"1315","volume":"8337","year":"1983","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.16","first-page":"1110","volume":"7866","year":"1974","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.17","unstructured":"Brock D J H. Screening for neural tube defects. In: Srimgeour JB, ed. Towards the prevention of fetal malformation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1978:37\u00e2\u0080\u009346."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.18","first-page":"438","volume":"8062","year":"1978","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.19","first-page":"879","volume":"8069","year":"1978","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.20","first-page":"373","volume":"8085","year":"1978","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.21","unstructured":"Department of Health and Social Security. Screening for spina bifida and other neural tube defects. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Archive, Working Group on Screening for Neural Tube Defects, 1973\u00e2\u0080\u00931979, College Presidents\u00e2\u0080\u0099 Records, 1977\u00e2\u0080\u00931981, M10\/1\u00e2\u0080\u00933, unpublished circular."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.22","first-page":"257","volume":"4","year":"1995","journal-title":"Soc Hist Med"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.23","first-page":"201","volume":"5886","year":"1973","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.24","first-page":"457","volume":"7565","year":"1968","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.7.3.117"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.7.3.120"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.7.3.122"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.7.3.123"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.29","first-page":"1104","volume":"8671","year":"1989","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.30","first-page":"700","volume":"8013","year":"1977","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.31","unstructured":"Castel R. From dangerousness to risk. In: Burchill G, Gordon C, Miller P, eds. The Foucault effect: studies in governmentality London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991:281\u00e2\u0080\u009398."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.32","first-page":"439","volume":"8062","year":"1978","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.33","first-page":"1293","volume":"8103","year":"1978","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.34","unstructured":"MacIntyre A. After virtue: a study in moral virtue. 2nd edn. Duckworth: King\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Lynn, 2004."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Oliver M. Understanding disability: from theory to practice. New York: Palgrave, 1996.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-24269-6"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.36","first-page":"512","volume":"7984","year":"1976","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.37","first-page":"1053","volume":"7944","year":"1975","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.38","first-page":"1210","volume":"7946","year":"1975","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.39","unstructured":"Glass N J, Cove A R. Cost-effectiveness of screening for neural tube defects. In: Srimgeour JB, ed. Towards the prevention of fetal malformation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1978:117\u00e2\u0080\u009323."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.40","first-page":"1345","volume":"8026","year":"1977","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.41","unstructured":"Polani P. Future developments in antenatal screening and diagnosis. In: Srimgeour JB, ed. Towards the prevention of fetal malformation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1978:261\u00e2\u0080\u009371."},{"key":"2024052300095396000_33.9.501.42","first-page":"926","volume":"8383","year":"1984","journal-title":"Lancet"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Ethics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/jme.2006.018697","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,23]],"date-time":"2024-05-23T08:40:46Z","timestamp":1716453646000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/jme.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/jme.2006.018697"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,30]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,30]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/jme.2006.018697"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/jme.2006.018697","relation":{},"ISSN":["0306-6800","1473-4257"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0306-6800","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4257","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,30]]}}}