Catie Sosniecki, Sarah Dombrovski, Lauren Rakowski

 “a birth defect is an abnormality of structure, function, or metabolism present at birth that results in physical or mental disability or is fatal” -cdc.gov  1 in 33 babies is born each year in U.S. with a birth defect  20% of total infant deaths is caused by birth defects  Most common are heart defects

 Costs of birth defects  reducing disabled population  Stereotypes

 Adjusting to psych-social environments  Self-esteem of disabled people  Quality of life

 Abortion  Genetic Screening/fetal genetic tests  In-vitro fertilization

 Withholding medical treatment  Sterilization

 State funding  NGOs  FDA and EPA  Accutane

 Developing countries:  Intellectual property law  Patent laws  Infrastructure

 Extremely controversial issue  Politically:  Happy medium  Ethically:  Personal needs met  Socially:  Disabled still stigmatized and stereotyped