Written by: Hannah Huston

Jill Lens, the Dorothy M. Willie Professor in Excellence at the University of Iowa College of Law, co-authored an article with Georgia State University assistant law professor Alison Whelan titled “Perinatal Palliative Care & Abortion,” forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review.

The article is the first to examine how antiabortion laws undermine the foundations and effectiveness of perinatal palliative care (PPC). PPC is a patient-centered option for pregnant people who, after receiving a life-limiting fetal condition diagnosis, choose to continue their pregnancies instead of terminating or pursuing aggressive medical interventions.

Lens and Whelan seek to reframe PPC using the frameworks of reproductive health, rights, and justice. They argue that true PPC can only exist alongside legal and accessible abortion. The article calls for an approach that centers patient autonomy, prioritizes accessibility and affordability, and directs research toward racial disparities in use. Without these changes, Lens and Whelan state that PPC risks becoming another tool of reproductive coercion rather than a genuine option for compassionate care.