Perinatal Palliative Care & Abortion

<p>Perinatal palliative care (PPC) emerged as a patient-centered option for pregnant people who, after receiving a life-limiting fetal condition (LLFC) diagnosis, chose to continue their pregnancies instead of terminating or pursuing aggressive, and likely futile, medical interventions.</p> <div> <p><span>This Article is the first to examine how antiabortion laws undermine PPC’s foundations and effectiveness. The antiabortion movement has co-opted PPC as the morally superior alternative to abortion, and abortion bans increase the need for this care. Yet antiabortion states have hypocritically made little to no effort to expand access to PPC or further its development. Instead, abortion bans have stunted that development. Abortion bans fundamentally alter and undermine PPC by eliminating the choice that made it meaningful. PPC is not only changed detrimentally, its continued existence is now under threat. Specifically, this Article is the first legal scholarship to argue that antiabortion “born alive” laws will deter the provision of PPC even after birth—despite the antiabortion movement long touting it as the “right” choice for LLFC-diagnosed pregnancies.</span></p> <p><span>This Article seeks to reframe PPC using the frameworks of reproductive health, rights, and justice. It argues that true PPC can only exist alongside legal and accessible abortion. It proposes a reframing of PPC that centers patient autonomy, prioritizes accessibility and affordability, and focuses research on racial disparities in use. Without these changes, PPC risks becoming another tool of reproductive coercion rather than a genuine option for compassionate care. Only by dissociating PPC from the antiabortion movement can PPC fulfill its original promise of supporting patients and families through devastating circumstances with dignity and choice.</span><span> &nbsp;</span></p> </div>