(C) Emerald Group Publishing THE DIALECTICS OF WRONGFUL LIFE AND WRONGFUL BIRTH CLAIMS IN ISRAEL: A DISABILITY CRITIQUE Sagit Mor ABSTRACT This article examines the dialectics of wrongful life and wrongful birth claims in Israel from 1986 until 2012. In May 2012 Israeli Supreme Court declared that while wrongful birth claims were still permitted, wrongful life claims were no longer accepted in a court of law. The article examines the conditions that allowed for and supported the expansion of wrongful life/birth claims until 2012. The article identifies two parallel dynamics of expansion: a broadening of the scope of negligent conduct and a view of milder forms of disabilities as damage that merits compen- sation. The article further suggests four explanations for such doctrinal evolution, two of which emanate from doctrinal ambiguities and the other two are rooted in social factors that have shaped the meaning of disability as a tragedy and state of inferiority. While recent developments seem pro- mising, the article concludes with a word of caution. Such changes may reproduce past injustices mainly because the compensation mechanism Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Volume 63, 113À146 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1059-4337/doi:10.1108/S1059-4337(2014)0000063003 113