Reproductive choice and the ideals of parenting

In “Where Is the Sin in Synecdoche?” (2005) Asch and Wasserman criticize the individual choice to use prenatal testing (PNT) to determine disability, and claim that such a choice may be inconsistent with the virtues of parenting and the ideals of family life. I argue that their characterization of parental virtue as unconditional welcome and devotion needs to be contextualized. The requirement of unconditional welcome and devotion is at odds with recognizing parents as deserving of the conditions for self-respect; it overlooks the moral requirements on children of reciprocity and mutuality; and it decontextualizes parenting from the social circumstance where the provision of social support for caregivers makes a difference to our moral assessment of their reproductive decisions.