This morning the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee passed S.B. 340 by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock) and Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Clarksville).
This good, pro-life bill prevents parents from suing doctors or hospitals for “wrongful birth.”
In other states, parents have filed “wrongful birth” lawsuits claiming their son or daughter should have been aborted.
For example, in December of 2013 a Seattle couple was awarded $50 million in a “wrongful birth” lawsuit. The couple claimed they would have aborted their son (now nine years old) had they known he would be born with a genetic defect.
I don’t know how you tell your son you wish he had never been born. These sorts of wrongful birth lawsuits treat children like nothing more than a financial expense and further the lie that children with genetic defects are better off aborted.
S.B. 340 helps ensures our laws treat human life with respect and dignity and that no one is able to argue in court that a child should have been aborted.
