On 1 February 1998, David T. Helm, Sara Miranda, and Naomi Angoff Chedd published “Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome: Mothers’ Reflections on Supports Needed From Diagnosis to Birth,” hereafter “Mothers’ Reflections,” in the journal Mental Retardation. In 2007, Mental Retardation changed its name to Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Down syndrome is the result of an extra copy or partial copy of chromosome 21, also known as Trisomy 21. It is characterized by traits such as intellectual disabilities, differing facial features, and a high risk for heart disease. In the study, the authors interviewed ten mothers, all of whom had elected to continue with their pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, about their experiences with health care professionals. The article provides suggestions for health care professionals, such as providing up-to-date materials and unbiased information and avoiding judgmental language, so that when mothers receive a prenatal diagnosis of a developmental disability, they are prepared and supported.

The US Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, on 27 October 1990, and then-President George H. W. Bush signed it into law on 16 November 1990. Overseen primarily by the US National Parks Service, NAGPRA is a federal law that governs the treatment and possession of Indigenous human remains and culturally significant objects discovered on federal or tribal land. Prompted by demands in the 1970s and 1980s for repatriation of Indigenous remains and objects held in museums and research centers, the act grants direct familial descendants and associated tribes the authority to determine the appropriate fate of those items. It also establishes a legal process through which tribes can reclaim those items from museums or other institutions receiving federal funding. As the first US federal law to directly assert Indigenous people’s legal ownership over their cultural items and bodily remains, NAGPRA established a structured system of repatriation and collaboration among tribes, museums, and scientific institutions.