What a wrongful birth claim actually is
A wrongful birth claim is a medical negligence lawsuit brought by parents who were deprived (by a provider’s error) of information about a serious fetal condition that they were legally entitled to receive during pregnancy. The negligence is informational: a genetic test never offered when the standard of care required it, a screening result misread or never reported, an ultrasound finding missed or not communicated. The claim does not allege that the provider caused the child’s condition. It alleges that the provider’s negligence took from the parents the ability to make their own informed decisions: about further diagnostic testing, about preparing medically and financially for a child with serious needs, and, where lawful, about whether to continue the pregnancy.
About the name, and why it misleads
“Wrongful birth” is a legal term of art, coined by courts, and nearly every parent who brings one of these claims recoils at it. Filing a wrongful birth claim is not a statement that a child is unwanted or unloved. In case after case, the parents pursuing these claims are the ones providing devoted, around-the-clock care, and seeking the resources that negligently withheld information cost them the chance to plan for. Courts recognizing these claims have said as much: the injury is to the parents’ right to make informed reproductive and medical decisions, not any judgment about the child’s worth. We use the term because the law does; we do not endorse what it seems to imply.
The situations that give rise to these claims
- Genetic screening and carrier testing errors: tests for conditions like Tay-Sachs, cystic fibrosis, or spinal muscular atrophy not offered to at-risk parents, performed incorrectly, or reported wrongly.
- Misread or misreported prenatal diagnostics: abnormal cell-free DNA screening, amniocentesis, or CVS results that were never conveyed, or conveyed as normal.
- Missed ultrasound findings: structural anomalies visible on imaging that a competent reading should have identified and communicated.
- Failure to counsel: not informing parents of known risks (advanced maternal age, family history, teratogenic medication exposure) that the standard of care required discussing, or failing to refer for genetic counseling.
These overlap with the “missed diagnosis” zone described in birth injury vs. birth defect; wrongful birth is the legal vehicle for that zone in states that allow it.
State recognition varies: some states bar these claims
No area of birth-related law varies more by state, and this page states it plainly rather than burying it:
- A majority of states recognize wrongful birth claims in some form, by court decision or statute. New York recognizes parents’ claims for the extraordinary costs of care (Becker v. Schwartz, 1978). New Jersey has recognized them since Berman v. Allan (1979). The District of Columbia recognizes them (Haymon v. Wilkerson, 1987).
- A significant minority bar them by statute, and the list matters to our own readers: Pennsylvania bars wrongful birth and wrongful life claims by statute (42 Pa.C.S. § 8305, upheld against challenge), and states including Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Utah, Idaho, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa (by 2018 statute), Arizona (by 2012 statute, with fraud exceptions), and Texas (by 2025 legislation) restrict or prohibit them.
- A few reject them by court decision: Georgia and North Carolina among them.
Because our alliance’s attorneys practice in both recognizing states (New York, New Jersey, D.C.) and a barring state (Pennsylvania), we state the plain consequence: where the negligent care occurred largely determines whether this claim exists at all. A Pennsylvania family generally cannot bring a wrongful birth claim no matter how clear the testing error, though other claims (ordinary malpractice for distinct harms, or claims in another state with jurisdiction) sometimes remain. This is a question to resolve with counsel rather than a table.
Not sure whether your state recognizes this claim, or whether what happened to you is one? Describe what you were told, and what you were not. Our attorneys will give you a straight answer about your state’s law, at no cost and in confidence.
Wrongful birth vs. wrongful life
The terms are cousins, and courts treat them very differently:
| Wrongful birth | Wrongful life | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sues | The parents | The child |
| The alleged injury | Deprivation of the parents’ informed decision-making | The child’s own existence with the condition |
| Acceptance by courts | Recognized in a majority of states | Rejected almost everywhere; only California, Washington, and New Jersey allow a limited version |
| Damages where allowed | Extraordinary costs of care; in some states, emotional harm | Special medical expenses only, never “damages for being born” |
Courts have rejected wrongful life claims almost unanimously because they require comparing existence with a disability to nonexistence, a comparison judges have said the law cannot make. The three states allowing a limited version confine it to the child’s extraordinary medical expenses.
What damages cover
In states that recognize wrongful birth, the core recovery is the extraordinary cost of care: the medical, therapeutic, educational, and caregiving expenses attributable to the child’s condition, beyond the ordinary costs of raising a child, often calculated across the child’s expected lifetime through a life care plan. States divide on the extras: some limit damages to the parents’ expenses during the child’s minority, others extend through the child’s life expectancy; some allow parents’ emotional distress damages (New Jersey does, in defined circumstances), many do not. No state awards general child-rearing costs for a healthy child’s birth; that related claim, sometimes called “wrongful conception,” is treated separately and more restrictively.
What must be proven
A wrongful birth case is a medical-malpractice case with an extra causal step. The parents must prove: (1) the provider breached the standard of care governing prenatal testing, interpretation, or counseling, established through expert testimony, as in any case described in how negligence is established; (2) the breach deprived them of accurate, timely information; and (3) with that information, they would have made different decisions. That third element is intensely personal, and defense lawyers probe it; families considering these claims deserve to know that in advance. Ordinary malpractice filing deadlines apply, generally running from the negligence or its discovery, and because the parents are the plaintiffs, no minor-tolling extensions apply. These deadlines are frequently shorter than families assume.
Frequently asked questions
Does filing a wrongful birth claim mean saying I wish my child hadn’t been born?
No. The claim is about a provider withholding, through negligence, information the law entitled you to during pregnancy. Courts frame the injury as the loss of your right to informed decision-making and the unplanned extraordinary costs, without passing judgment on your child. Most families who file are seeking lifetime care resources for a child they love.
Which states do not allow wrongful birth claims?
A significant minority bar them by statute or court decision, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Utah, Idaho, Indiana, Arizona, Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina, and others, with Texas joining by statute in 2025. Because the law here changes and jurisdiction can be complicated, confirm your situation with an attorney rather than a list.
What can parents recover in a wrongful birth case?
Primarily the extraordinary costs of the child’s condition (medical care, therapy, equipment, special education, and caregiving) beyond ordinary child-rearing costs, in some states through the child’s full life expectancy. Some states also permit emotional-distress damages; many do not.
Is there a deadline?
Yes, the ordinary medical-malpractice deadline in your state, typically one to three years from the negligence or its discovery. Because the parents are the plaintiffs, the child-friendly tolling rules that extend other birth injury claims do not apply.
Sources
- Becker v. Schwartz, 46 N.Y.2d 401 (1978).
- Berman v. Allan, 80 N.J. 421 (1979); Procanik v. Cillo, 97 N.J. 339 (1984) (limited wrongful life).
- Haymon v. Wilkerson, 535 A.2d 880 (D.C. 1987).
- 42 Pa.C.S. § 8305 (Pennsylvania statutory bar); Sernovitz v. Dershaw, 127 A.3d 783 (Pa. 2015).
- Turpin v. Sortini, 31 Cal.3d 220 (1982); Harbeson v. Parke-Davis, 98 Wn.2d 460 (1983) (limited wrongful life in California and Washington).
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice guidance on prenatal genetic screening and diagnostic testing (Practice Bulletins No. 162, 163; Committee Opinion No. 693).
This page is for general education and is not legal advice. Wrongful birth law varies sharply by state and continues to change through legislation and court decisions; the state characterizations above must be confirmed against current law before relying on them. This page discusses sensitive subjects; every family’s choices deserve respect, and nothing here judges any of them.