Kansas Supreme Court Upholds Law Barring ‘Wrongful Birth’ Suits
Kansas’ highest court on April 30 upheld a law barring so-called wrongful birth lawsuits against doctors, in a case in which a couple sued because they weren’t told of serious fetal defects until after an abortion could have been obtained.
The state Supreme Court ruled against the parents of a girl born with a severe brain abnormality who said they would have opted for an abortion had they known of their daughter’s medical problems months before her May 2014 birth.
The Republican-controlled Legislature and then-GOP Gov. Sam Brownback passed the law against wrongful birth lawsuits in 2013 at the urging of abortion opponents. It overturned a 1990 state Supreme Court ruling saying Kansas law allowed such lawsuits, and current Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, then a state senator, voted against it.
The Kansas Supreme Court narrowly ruled Friday that a 2013 state law barring so-called wrongful birth claims is not a violation of the Kansas Constitution's right to a jury trial, saying such claims are a "new tort" rather than common law, and are therefore not covered by the state constitution.
TOPEKA Kansas highest court on Friday upheld a law barring so-called wrongful birth lawsuits against doctors, in a case in which a couple sued because they
The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of a state law abolishing a medical malpractice claim known as a “wrongful birth.”
The 4-3 decision affirms a Riley County District Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit by parents who alleged their prenatal doctor negligently failed to inform them about serious fatal abnormalities observable from an ultrasound.
Alysia Tillman and Storm Fleetwood of Manhattan sued their physician, Dr. Katherine Goodpasture, for denying information about their child’s severe brain defects. The information could have allowed the couple to seek an abortion.
A statute barring these types of lawsuits was passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2013. They had previously been recognized as viable claims in a 1990 Kansas Supreme Court Decision. Justice Caleb Stegall wrote a concurring opinion arguing the 1990 decision should be overruled, avoiding the constitutional questions faced by the high court. Two other justices also dissented including Chief J
John Hanna April 30, 2021 - 4:21 PM
TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas highest court on Friday upheld a law barring so-called wrongful birth lawsuits against doctors, in a case in which a couple sued because they weren t told of serious fetal defects until after an abortion could have been obtained.
The state Supreme Court ruled against the parents of a girl born with a severe brain abnormality who said they would have opted for an abortion had they known of their daughter s medical problems months before her May 2014 birth.
The Republican-controlled Legislature and then-GOP Gov. Sam Brownback passed the law against wrongful birth lawsuits in 2013 at the urging of abortion opponents. It overturned a 1990 state Supreme Court ruling saying Kansas law allowed such lawsuits, and current Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, then a state senator, voted against it.