Press Room

Contact: Matt Sande, Director of Legislative Affairs
(262) 352-0890
Peggy Hamill, State Director
(262) 796-1111, (414) 416-0489 or info@prolifewisconsin.org

Pro-Life Wisconsin Urges Rejection of
“Wrongful Birth” Lawsuits

Madison – Pro-Life Wisconsin today urged a legislative committee to ban “wrongful birth” and “wrongful life” lawsuits – suits which allow parents to sue for the “damage” of their disabled child’s birth.

“Wisconsin must reject the sick and dangerous idea that it is better for someone to be dead than disabled,” said Pro-Life Wisconsin board member Rebecca Sande.

Pro-Life Wisconsin State Director Peggy Hamill also testified before the Senate Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy Committee from a personal perspective.

“I was born with what some consider a disability,” Hamill said. “It is an insult to me to know that if I was born in Wisconsin today, our laws would allow my parents to sue my mother’s doctor…that they would be entitled to damages if they claimed this lack of information prevented them from eliminating me before I was born.”

Opponents of the legislation claim that banning wrongful birth or wrongful life lawsuits will allow medical personnel – for example doctors and ultrasound technicians – to withhold information either on the availability or the results of prenatal tests which could indicate a preborn child’s disability and lead parents to abort.

“This legislation does not eliminate liability for a doctor who is negligent,” said Sande. “Wisconsin law provides at least three legal actions in these cases, including filing a complaint with the Medical Examining Board, prosecution under the informed consent law, and negligence principles under common law.”

“Doctors should not be forced to perform extraordinary and often dangerous diagnostic testing for fear of litigation by families and attorneys seeking astronomical financial settlements,” Sande said.
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