A fearful diagnosis

Each year in the United States, a small portion of children will be diagnosed in utero with congenital abnormalities. A fraction of these children will have abnormalities deemed “lethal” or “fatal.” I know this devastating experience first-hand. In February of 2021, my third child, David, was diagnosed in utero with a set of severe congenital abnormalities that were expected to claim his life. We began to plan a funeral for a baby we’d not yet met.

Texas law now ensures that parents like me—parents of children diagnosed in utero with life-threatening congenital abnormalities—are given critical information regarding palliative care during pregnancy. This information includes access to “medical, social, and mental health care” and “maternal-fetal medicine specialists, obstetricians, neonatologists” and others “focused on alleviating fear and pain” to ensure “a supportive environment” during pregnancy and birth.

Gov. Greg Abbot signed Texas’s Perinatal Palliative Care Act into law on June 20, 2025, effective beginning Sept. 1. Former Texas State Sen. Kelly Hancock, who was recently appointed to Acting Comptroller and Chief Clerk of the Comptroller’s office, had introduced the bill earlier this spring.

Texas law limits abortions, even in cases of severe fetal anomalies. Instead of encouraging parents to seek abortion as a quick resolution after the diagnosis of fetal abnormalities that may threaten a child’s life, this bill ensures that physicians offer parents a life-honoring alternative to termination. Access to supportive services now dignify the lives of disabled and terminally ill children and their families in Texas before, during, and after birth. The Perinatal Palliative Care Act ensures that families facing devastating diagnoses are appropriately supported by medical providers, as well as social and mental health care professionals.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offers clinical guidance that defines perinatal palliative care as just one of “several options along a spectrum of care, which includes pregnancy termination (abortion)”. While the medical establishment attempts to frame abortion as an act of compassion towards a disabled or ill child, the state of Texas knows better and aims to provide parents with a different roadmap.

Since passage of recent abortion regulations, Texas has received outsized scrutiny regarding maternal and infant healthcare outcomes. The New York Times recently reported that both Texas’s birthrate and infant mortality rate has increased since enacting abortion legislation, pulling research from several new studies. One study released by JAMA highlights that the birth of babies with severe congenital abnormalities and their death shortly after birth or in the first year of life are part of that increasing infant mortality trend. In other words, disabled or ill babies that would have been otherwise aborted are now born alive in Texas, although they may die at or shortly after birth due to their medical conditions.

Abortion supporters lament this development as a burden on the healthcare system, as well as an unfair burden on parents facing the birth of children with challenging diagnoses. For many, it is easier to terminate a disabled child in the womb than dignify their precious lives with basic healthcare and give parents necessary support.

I can attest that pregnancy with a child diagnosed with “lethal” or “fatal” fetal anomalies is an unbearable pain. Yet remarkably, my son David turned four this summer. The prognosis that faced us that week in the ultrasound room and followed us into the NICU has, for whatever reason, proved to be false. David is deaf, blind, has an open palate with protruding brain tissue, and more complex medical issues than I can list here. He is not able to walk independently, eat independently, or express himself verbally like a typical kid. Despite all of this, David is alive.

With the Dobbs decision and subsequent passage of abortion regulations nationwide, abortion advocates mourn the loss of accessibility for abortions in cases like David’s. Kate Cox testified in 2024 before the Texas Supreme Court that the presence of her disabled child in the womb was a threat to her life and future fertility. Thankfully, the Texas Supreme Court ruled for life in the case of Ms. Cox, and rightly recognized that the presence of a child with a disability doesn’t threaten a mother’s life. Sadly, this decision didn’t deter Kate from seeking an out of state abortion after the fact.

The Texas Perinatal Palliative Care Act ensures families are given the support they need to welcome a child with complex needs, whether to death or life. Families facing challenging diagnoses need social support, specialized medical care, and assistance navigating resources. Parenting a child like David is a privilege, but it really does require a village. Texas is taking steps to value the lives of children born with disabilities, like my son.