Court awards damages to disabled child for having been born

For the first time in the Netherlands, a court has awarded damages to a severely disabled girl for the fact that she was born—a so called “wrongful life” judgment.

The case of 9 year old Kelly Molenaar has led MPs to call for the Netherlands to follow France and ban damage claims for wrongful life. Doctors fear the judgment could lead to a sharp increase in defensive prenatal testing.

A court in The Hague heard how Kelly's parents had informed a midwife at the Leiden University Medical …