SEX SELECTION: Guest
lecturer Barbara Katz Rothman, professor of sociology, City University
of New York, speaks on "Consumer Eugenics: Sex Selection and Beyond" to
students and faculty April 26 in Judd Hall. Rothman's talk was sponsored
by the Department of Sociology.
Students take notes at the Rothman lecture.
Rothman says Americans rarely think of their
own eugenic history, from racial quotas on immigration to forced
sterilizations of people with disabilities. Even less often do they
connect that with contemporary medical technologies. But the increasing
array of prenatal testing, pre-implantation diagnostic technologies and
related developments force us to think about these issues. Whether it is
sex selection for 'family balancing' or selective abortion for Down
Syndrome, Rothman explained what it means to turn eugenic concerns into
individual choices. (Photos by Olivia Bartlett)
