We are a multidisciplinary fellowship researching threats to life at its beginning and natural end.

Iowa Supreme Court recognizes wrongful birth tort

Here is link to a LifeNews.com article on a June 2, 2017 decision by the Iowa Supreme Court recognizing a tort for wrongful birth. Wrongful birth claims are claims by parents of a disabled child who argue that but for the negligence of a doctor (in, for example, failing to notify the parent that her child would be born with birth defects)  they would have aborted the child. Many states (about half the states in the US) recognize wrongful birth claims. In contrast, far fewer states recognize so-called wrongful life claims, which are brought by the child who claims that but for the wrongful conduct of the defendant the child would have never been born (because her parents would have had an abortion).

Here is a link to an article (“Statutory Responses to ‘Wrongful Birth’ and ‘Wrongful Life” Actions”) by William Duncan discussing these torts. Here is a link to another article (“The Disabling Impact of Wrongful Birth and Wrongful Life Actions”) arguing, from a disability rights perspective, that these torts ought not to be recognized.

 

UFFL and Copyright

Authors publishing with UFFL retain their copyrights. 

By publishing in ProVita or Life and Learning, authors agree that their work can be shared but neither adapted nor used commercially without their express permission. 

The CC-BY-NC-ND copyright acknowledgment and identification of the author is required when sharing material. 

Questions?  Contact us for any further clarification.