Dagmar Schmidt has a son, who was born in May 2013 with Down syndrome and an associated heart defect, which required several corrective surgeries. The child was not diagnosed until shortly after his birth; Schmidt had declined prenatal testing, stating that knowing about the condition would not change anything. After the German federal election in September 2013, Schmidt became the first single mother of a child with Down syndrome to become a member of the Bundestag. In a speech in a Bundestag debate about prenatal diagnostics she supported a " for all children". In relation to prenatal testing, she has also argued for a "right not to know" and has said that parents of children with trisomy 21 should not have to justify the right for their child to be born.