Yesterday, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor’s presentation on prenatal diagnostics at De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame University last October became available on video:

Dr. Egnor, first author of The Immortal Mind: (2025) directs a research program on intracranial dynamics and hydrocephalus and has been published in neurosurgery journals but he is also known for his interest in philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and bioethics.

From the transcript:

[40:20 min:] I believe it is grossly unethical for doctors who have no professional qualifications or personal experience with the management of disabled children to provide prenatal counseling. If there’s one thing it’s it’s it’s amazing. I mean much of the counseling that families get with this come from two sources.

One is obstetricians who by the very nature of their specialty do not care for children and do not care for disabled children. They likely have never seen them professionally in their entire career and they’re the primary source of information for families about decisions to terminate the pregnancy. It’s absolute madness. It’s like going to a dermatologist to decide whether you’re going to have heart surgery, right?

People who counsel families for children who have these central nervous system issues on prenatal imaging have to be people who have taken care of these children, who’ve seen these children grow up, who have specialized training in this and a specialized interest in this. That won’t solve all problems… but you can’t have people [doing the counseling] who know nothing professionally about the future. The only information they get is out of their textbooks which are old and biased and almost worthless.

The other group that counsels a lot of these people is is radiologists because what commonly happens is, there’ll be a prenatal ultrasound which will raise questions. So the family goes to get an MRI. They get the MRI and radiologist comes out to the waiting room, takes them into a little room and says, “Your baby has spina bifida. Here’s a late term abortionist’s card.”

I actually reported that radiologist to our hospital leadership because I was furious. She was counseled not to be talking to families like that and not be handing out abortionists’ business cards.

Whatever happened to the idea that persons with disabilities are our fellow human beings?

The conference was “The Changing Face of Life-Limiting Prenatal Diagnoses (Part 2): Clinical, Pastoral, and Ethical Considerations.” It was co-sponsored by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, the McGrath Institute for Church Life, the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, and Be Not Afraid and held October 25th, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Geddes Hall Auditorium, University of Notre Dame