ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the recent emergence of a eugenic discourse which is having a profound effect on public expenditure, legal configurations, reproductive decisions and attitudes towards genetic illness and handicap in England. The practices legitimated by the discourse combine the social welfare and psychosocial elements of Osborn’s eugenic hypothesis with neo-liberal individual responsibility. However while the discourse itself is eugenic, the practices it legitimates-including human genome research, the activities of the human genetics services and the operation of the law relating to termination of pregnancy for fetal handicap-fail to meet Galton’s eugenic criteria because their humaneness is questionable and they are unlikely to lead to ‘genetic improvement’ of the human species.
