When a Fort Worth appeals court ruled that the parents of a viable unborn child have the right to sue for wrongful death, they ventured into an area where reason, emotion and case law seem to be at odds.

In a rare en banc decision, the 2nd Court of Appeals, bucking precedent, found in Richard Parvin v. John Thomas Dean, et al. that Texas’ wrongful death and survival statutes are unconstitutional as they apply to parents who lose an unborn child capable of living outside the womb to negligence.