Evidence suggests that almost all women [97.5%] do not regret giving birth, even if their baby is doomed to die, and that abortion in such cases leads to less positive outcomes. A 2018 article from the Journal of Clinical Ethics, entitled “‘I Would Do It All Over Again’: Cherishing Time and the Absence of Regret in Continuing a Pregnancy after a Life-Limiting Diagnosis,” examines these cases.

Many people who are convinced abortion is wrong hesitate when it comes to the question of aborting babies that have been diagnosed with a lethal disease or abnormality. The moral reasoning against abortion in these cases doesn’t change (the fact that a human being will die in the future doesn’t justify killing him now), but the additional emotional element that’s added into the situation gives people pause. Why go through the pain of pregnancy, labor, and birth for a baby who will not survive? Won’t that just make a tragic situation worse?

Christopher Kaczor’s article “Do Women Regret Giving Birth When the Baby is Doomed to Die?” addresses this question:

This defense of abortion depends in part on an empirical claim about the likely consequences of continuing a pregnancy when the baby has a life-limiting diagnosis.

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