 Architects of the pivot to medical genetics and genetic counseling programs in the mid-twentieth century tried to curtail some of the abhorrent features of this history by shifting control over reproductive decisions from governments/institutions to individuals/families (see  section 1.4 above).  A technology like amniocentesis allowed a woman to decide whether or not she wanted to carry a fetus that was likely to have Down syndrome to term or alternatively terminate the pregnancy. Carrier screening for cystic fibrosis let prospective parents know what the chances were that they could conceive a child with that condition. For families with Huntington’s disease, preimplantation genetic diagnosis after in vitro fertilization opened the door to only implanting embryos that did not carry the Huntington’s disease allele. Genetic counselors saw their role as facilitating these patients’ reproductive decision-making in a non-biased way. Medical geneticists hailed these genetic technologies, claiming they empowered families (and women in particular) with greater autonomous control over their reproductive decisions (entry:  pregnancy, birth, and medicine).