03 October, 2017
Imperfect Pregnancies: A History of Birth Defects and Prenatal Diagnosis is the new book by Ilana Löwy, launched by John Hopkins University Press. 
In Imperfect Pregnancies, Ilana Löwy argues that the generalization of prenatal diagnosis has radically changed the experience of pregnancy for tens of millions of women worldwide.
Although most women are reassured that their future child is developing well, others face a stressful period of waiting for results, uncertain prognosis, and difficult decisions.
Löwy follows the rise of biomedical technologies that made prenatal diagnosis possible and investigates the institutional, sociocultural, economic, legal, and political consequences of their widespread diffusion.
Because prenatal diagnosis is linked to the contentious issue of selective termination of pregnancy for a fetal anomaly, debates on this topic have largely centered on the rejection of human imperfection and the notion that we are now perched on a slippery slope that will lead to new eugenics.
Ilana Löwy is emerita senior research fellow at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research and has published some papers in Manguinhos:
Cancer, women and public health – Researcher Ilana Löwy follows the early history of the pap test, its consequences and controversies.
Zika virus and rubella: similarities and differences – Researcher Ilana Löwy, from the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Médicale Paris, traces a parallel between the current zika epidemics in Brazil and past rubella outbreaks.
Löwy, Ilana and Sanabria, Emilia. A biomedicalização de corpos brasileiros: perspectivas antropológicas. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Mar 2016, vol.23, no.1.
Löwy, Ilana. Les métaphores de l’immunologie: guerre et paix. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, June 1996, vol.3, no.1.
Löwy, Ilana. Representação e intervenção em saúde pública: vírus, mosquitos e especialistas da Fundação Rockefeller no Brasil. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Fev 1999, vol.5, no.3, p.647-677. ISSN 0104-5970
