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  • Title: Abortion: 2. Fetal status and legal representation.
    Author: Dickens BM.
    Journal: Can Med Assoc J; 1981 Feb 01; 124(3):253-4. PubMed ID: 7459785.
    Abstract:
    A fetus has no legal status. A child becomes a human being when it has proceeded in a living state from the body of its mother. The Criminal Code prohibits child destruction during birth and prohibits abortion before birth. Recent Canadian litigation to prevent abortion has challenged the view of the fetus as a being. If a fetus is injured in utero, legal action can be taken. However, this is the right of a human being, not a fetus. If a child is not born or its life ends in utero, no legal action can be taken. In 1979 a man took legal action in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to prevent his estranged wife from having an abortion. He sought an injunction to prevent the hospital from performing the procedure, and the hospital yielded to the pressure. A member of the local antiabortion group made a unilateral application to a family court judge to appear as guardian ad litem for the unborn child in the Supreme Court proceedings. While the family court's jurisdiction was questionable, the judge gave permission. The husband's litigation was not pursued. The status of the guardianship remained unsettled. The Dehler decision, in a higher court, indicated that an unborn child is not considered a person. In a case in British Columbia in 1979 it was suggested that, during labor, an unborn child may be considered a person for certain purposes. Further legal clarification is needed for a controversial issue.
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