Webinar: Screen to Treat or Stigmatise?: Ethical Dilemmas, Reproductive Governance, and Genetic Blood 'Disorders'

This webinar  discuss ethical issues related to the entire issue of population screening, the whole concept of "elimination," with particular reference to the prenatal testing ecosystem and eugenics.

Webinar on

“Screen to Treat or Stigmatise?: Ethical Dilemmas, Reproductive Governance, and Genetic Blood 'Disorders'”.
Date and Time: 30th August, Friday, 05:30 PM to 07:30 PM (IST)

Registration link - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcud-qurDguHdXrSCxTcEUFRItGbXRU_aj0 

Facilitator: Dr. Amar Jesani
Independent consultant, researcher and teacher in bioethics and public health.

Discussant: Laxmi Murthy
Journalist and researcher based in Bangalore

Speakers:
1.Prof. Sangeeta Chattoo
Senior Research Fellow/ Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of York
Topic: The social and ethical reverberations of community-based screening for SCD as a ‘tribal disease’

2.Dr. Yogesh Jain
Pediatrician and Public Health physician, Co-founder of Jan Swasthya Sahyog and Sangwari, Chhattisgarh
Topic: Policy and ethical issues in Sickle cell screening in India

3.Keertana KT and Sarojini  N
Sama Resource Group for Women & Health

Topic: Premarital and prenatal screening or preventing births?: Reproductive governance and sickle cell care in India

For the past three decades, the politics of preconception and prenatal diagnostic techniques have been an issue that we, as feminists have addressed quite centrally.

Over the years, Sama’s (www.samawomenshealth.in) work has involved highlighting and examining the intersections between sex selection technologies, prenatal screening, and testing in the context of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfers (ET), from the lens of reproductive and disability justice.

One of our areas of engagement and our work at present is bio and genetic technologies and the question of pre-marital screening and prenatal testing for genetic ‘disorders’/diseases is an extension of that work Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), mainly in the context of screening, public health interventions and reproductive governance.

This webinar is part of a series of consultations based on our research and work in the communities on these issues. Our Consultation was focused on  “Interrogating SCD as a public health, reproductive justice, and disability justice issue”.

Our first webinar focussed on "Conceptual Constitution of Disability: A Public Health Understanding of Sickle Cell ‘Disease’ & Multiple Sclerosis"  and the physical, emotional, and social challenges they face, as well as the types of support and legal and policy systems that can significantly enhance their quality of life.

Our upcoming webinar on 30th August is on “ Screen to Treat or Stigmatise?: Ethical Dilemmas, Reproductive Governance, and Genetic Blood 'Disorders'”. Here we discuss ethical issues related to the entire issue of population screening, the whole concept of "elimination," with particular reference to the prenatal testing ecosystem and eugenics.