In Italy, the father of a teenage girl is suing a hospital for failing to perform an abortion and allowing his daughter to be born. He says her existence has caused him to suffer “psychological damage” and make cutbacks in his lifestyle. The Daily Mail reports that the girl was born in 2001 to a couple that did not want to parent any more children.
At the time, the father worked as a laborer and the child’s mother worked at a cleaning company. They scheduled the abortion immediately after finding out the woman was pregnant; however, the abortionist failed to kill the child and their pregnancy continued. Eventually, they discovered the “mistake” but the mother was too far along in her pregnancy to attempt the abortion again.
From the story:
The father, who had worked as a labourer and the mother who worked for a cleaning company, discovered the pregnancy by accident during the diagnosis of a cyst and decided to terminate the pregnancy.
But the embryo remained attached to the womb even after the abortion and by the time they discovered the mistake it was no longer possible to have an abortion, by law.
Lower courts have dismissed the case but Italy’s highest court will now hear an appeal.
Unbelievably, the mother has already received a financial settlement from the hospital because of the live birth, but the couple is saying that money is not enough. Initially, the lower courts dismissed the case but it is now headed to Italy’s highest court.
As LifeNews previously reported, most so-called “wrongful birth” lawsuits are filed because doctors missed a fetal abnormality during a prenatal test; and parents claim that if they had known their child would be disabled, they would’ve had an abortion.
In fact, recent figures released by the Department of Health reveal that between 2003 and 2013 the National Health Service (NHS) paid out more than $100 million in U.S. dollars in 164 cases of “wrongful births”. However, one case out of the United Kingdom concerns a woman who sued the NHS after giving birth to a perfectly healthy child, just like the couple in Italy.
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In 2010, Katie-Kelly Ince, 18, became pregnant one month after nurses implanted a matchstick-sized flexible rod that is inserted under the skin and releases hormones to stop ovulation. The contraceptive prevents pregnancy 99.95% and Katie’s mother, Paula, was fine with her daughter having sex as long as she was responsible.
But soon after the implant was inserted, she started feeling “off” and became concerned. It wasn’t until later that Katie found out that her pregnancy occurred because her implant was inserted improperly by the medical staff at the clinic she visited. Katie said the National Health Service robbed her of her youth, independence, ambitions and her future when their employee’s negligence allowed her daughter to be conceived.
Although Katie didn’t have an abortion, she did receive £11,000 from the NHS for a wrongful birth, which is over $17,000 in U.S. dollars. She could have received more if she would have proved financial distress by undergoing an extensive psychoanalysis. Katie was especially upset over the small amount she was awarded since women who were in the same situation received more money if they had abortions. Katie concluded, “I felt my mental state would be worse if I terminated than if I didn’t.” Her mother argues that her decision to refuse abortion was partially influenced by her Catholic upbringing,
