Wrongful Birth

S.B. 1170 of 2000
P.A. 423 of 2000
MCL 600.2971
Sponsor: Sen. Bill VanRegenmorter

Effective Date: March 28, 2001

“Wrongful Birth” lawsuits arise when parents of a disabled child sue a physician or other health care provider for failing to test for, or prenatally diagnose the child’s disability, information the parents claim would have led them to abort the child. A wrongful birth suit seeks to recover costs of raising the disabled child because the parents were ‘denied the opportunity’ to abort the child.

The effect of this bill is to create a policy barring wrongful birth suits, consistent with the Taylor decision and supplanting earlier court opinions. It further codifies existing court precedent on wrongful pregnancy suits that prohibit suing for costs of raising a child conceived via faulty contraception.

More History