Pennsylvania § 8305 Actions for wrongful birth and wrongful life

Pennsylvania Statutes

§ 8305 — Actions for wrongful birth and wrongful life

Pennsylvania § 8305

JurisdictionPennsylvania

Title 42JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE

PartPART VII

Ch. 83PARTICULAR RIGHTS AND IMMUNITIES

Subch.RIGHTS OF ACTION

This text of Pennsylvania § 8305 (Actions for wrongful birth and wrongful life) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8305 (2026).

Text

(a)Wrongful birth.--There shall be no cause of action or award of damages on behalf of any person based on a claim that, but for an act or omission of the defendant, a person once conceived would not or should not have been born. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit any cause of action or award of damages for the wrongful death of a woman, or on account of physical injury suffered by a woman or a child, as a result of an attempted abortion. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to provide a defense against any proceeding charging a health care practitioner with intentional misrepresentation under the act of October 5, 1978 (P.L.1109, No.261), known as the Osteopathic Medical Practice Act, the act of December 20, 1985 (P.L.457, No.112), know

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(a) Wrongful birth.--There shall be no cause of action or award of damages on behalf of any person based on a claim that, but for an act or omission of the defendant, a person once conceived would not or should not have been born. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit any cause of action or award of damages for the wrongful death of a woman, or on account of physical injury suffered by a woman or a child, as a result of an attempted abortion. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to provide a defense against any proceeding charging a health care practitioner with intentional misrepresentation under the act of October 5, 1978 (P.L.1109, No.261), known as the Osteopathic Medical Practice Act, the act of December 20, 1985 (P.L.457, No.112), known as the Medical Practice Act of 1985, or any other act regulating the professional practices of health care practitioners.

(b) Wrongful life.--There shall be no cause of action on behalf of any person based on a claim of that person that, but for an act or omission of the defendant, the person would not have been conceived or, once conceived, would or should have been aborted.

(c) Conception.--A person shall be deemed to be conceived at the moment of fertilization.

Legislative History

(Apr. 13, 1988, P.L.336, No.47, eff. imd.) 1988 Amendment.Act 47 added section 8305. Section 7 of Act 47 provided that section 8305 shall not apply to any case in which a final award of damages has been made and with regard to which the time to take an appeal has expired without an appeal being taken. Section 8 of Act 47 provided that, except as provided in section 2 of Act 47, which added section 8305, section 8305 shall have retroactive effect, including application to any case pending or on appeal.