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Mrs Thi-Nho Vo went to the court after French courts said the doctor could not be prosecuted for homicide as the foetus did not have the right to life. She said it had that right under the European Convention on Human Rights. But the Court of Human Rights ruled against her, and involuntary abortion did not constitute manslaughter.

A woman whose pregnancy was wrongly terminated in a French hospital has lost her fight at the European Court to enshrine a foetus' right to life. Mrs Thi-Nho Vo went to the court after French courts said the doctor could not be prosecuted for homicide as the foetus did not have the right to life. She said it had that right under the European Convention on Human Rights. But the Court of Human Rights ruled against her, and involuntary abortion did not constitute manslaughter. The ruling sets a precedent on the legal status of unborn babies that will be applied...

Europe rejects foetal rights bid The case centred on the unborn baby's right to life A woman whose pregnancy was wrongly terminated in a French hospital has lost her fight at the European Court to enshrine a foetus' right to life. Mrs Thi-Nho Vo went to the court after French courts said the doctor could not be prosecuted for homicide as the foetus did not have the right to life. She said it had that right under the European Convention on Human Rights. But the Court of Human Rights ruled against her, and involuntary abortion did not constitute manslaughter.

One of the most dramatic medical advances of recent years has been the use of surgery to correct birth defects--before birth. Surgeons can operate on fetuses in the womb for a variety of conditions, from life-threatening tumors to spina bifida. When they operate, it may surprise you to learn, they provide anesthesia not only to the mother but also to the fetus. Or maybe it doesn't surprise you. Maybe it seems obvious that fetuses can feel pain long before they emerge into the world. But some people wish you wouldn't think about that fact. The issue arises thanks to a...

A viable fetus is a person under the state's homicide law, so killing a viable fetus can result in murder or manslaughter charges, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled yesterday. In doing so, the court overturned its own 1983 decision requiring a live birth before homicide charges may be brought. Modern technology now makes it possible to determine whether fetuses could have survived outside the womb, the court ruled. "The rationale for the 'born-alive' rule no longer exists," Justice William Cooper wrote for the majority. Yesterday's decision affects only the homicide statute and has no direct effect on legal abortion in...

Judge let pregnant woman stay in U.S. By DONALD BRADLEY The Kansas City Star Abortion opponents got a surprise when federal Judge Scott O. Wright refused to deport a pregnant Raymore woman last month. He was talking their talk. Wright ruled that the government could not send Myrna Dick back to Mexico, because her unborn child was an American citizen with constitutional rights. As such, the baby was entitled to stay in the country. Anti-abortion forces have been using a similar argument since the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in 1973: A fetus is a human...

While attorneys on Thursday argued fingerprints and other details of the U.S. government's deportation case against a pregnant Raymore woman, the judge introduced a new party to the fray. “Isn't that child an American citizen?” asked Senior U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright. The judge rejected the government's request that a stay be lifted and that immigration officials be allowed to deport Myrna Dick to her native Mexico. Wright cited a new federal law — enacted after the Laci Peterson murder in California — that gives legal protection to unborn children. Wright ordered that Dick be allowed to stay in...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal judge issued a stay on Thursday to a pregnant woman scheduled for deportation while attorneys look into whether her unborn fetus might be a U.S. citizen, affiliate station KMBC's Donna Pitman reported. Myrna Dick went to renew her papers with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service last month, and she wound up in custody. Officials accused her of lying to border patrol officers in 1998 and said it was grounds for deportation to Mexico. But Dick, who is married to an American citizen, is pregnant with her husband's child. Judge Scott Wright wants to...

<p>The next big rallying point for the pro-life movement on Capitol Hill appears to be legislation introduced yesterday that would require doctors to inform women seeking abortions that the procedure will cause pain to their unborn children.</p> <p>"Unborn children can and do feel pain," said the bill's Senate sponsor, Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican. "Women should not be kept in the dark."</p>

LUFKIN -- A Lufkin High School student has been charged with murder after police say he killed his unborn twin sons by beating his pregnant girlfriend. Gerardo Flores, 18, was arrested Friday afternoon by Lufkin police after his 16-year-old girlfriend delivered twin boys stillborn at home and sought medical attention at an East Texas hospital, an arrest affidavit states. The teen was five months pregnant. It could be one of the first cases prosecuted under a new Texas law that changes the definition of human life for a murder charge, The Lufkin Daily News reported today. Texas law now defines...

House Bill Says Fetus Has Rights at Fertilization COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A House subcommittee approved a bill Thursday that would declare constitutional rights "vest at fertilization." Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, and Rep. Scott Talley, R-Moore, voted to send the bill to the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. James Harrison, R-Columbia, did not vote, saying the bill was unconstitutional because it contradicted the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision. "We can't amend our laws to change that decision," Harrison said. Supporters hope a new federal law, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, will give state lawmakers a...

The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday that would make it a separate crime to injure or kill a fetus during a federal violent crime committed against a pregnant woman, upsetting critics who say it's an attempt to erode abortion rights. "Pregnant women who have been harmed by violence, and their families, know that there are two victims - the mother and the unborn child - and both victims should be protected by federal law," President Bush said in a statement issued Thursday night. The House of Representatives passed the legislation on Feb. 26 by a 254-163 vote. The Act The...

NEW YORK - A new federal law banning certain types of abortions is unconstitutional and threatens most late-term abortions, a lawyer for plaintiffs said at the start of one of three trials on the law getting under way Monday. But the government, in its opening statement, said it would show that a fetus "can and will feel pain as a result of this procedure." The law, signed into law in November by President Bush (news - web sites), is too vague and should be tossed out, plaintiffs' lawyer A. Stephen Hut Jr. said in his opening statement. Abortion-rights supporters are...

MANKIND has long attached punishment to the killing of an unborn child. Not so the federal government, until now. On Thursday the U.S. Senate finally passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which makes it a federal crime to injure or kill a fetus while committing a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman. The concept is not a new one. Exodus 21: 22 reads: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him;...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- From gays to guns to the rights of the unborn, Republicans are staging a series of cultural clashes in Congress in the run-up to the fall elections, seeking political advantage as much as legislative accomplishment. They got a dose of both recently, praise from anti-abortion groups for passage of legislation making it a separate crime to harm a fetus during an attack on a pregnant woman. "It is encouraging that 61 members of the U.S. Senate are willing to publicly state that a preborn baby is a human being endowed by our Creator with the same inalienable...

Washington, Mar. 26 (CWNews.com) - The US Senate yesterday passed a bill that will make criminals punishable for harm done to unborn children in the course of a violent crime. Ten Catholic senators voted against the bill, which was opposed by abortion providers. The legislation which the Senate approved on March 25 has already been passed by the House of Representatives. It now needs only the signature of President George W. Bush in order to become federal law. The President has indicated that he fully supports the measure, and is likely to sign it promptly. The measure passed despite the...

ACLU Calls Senate Anti-Choice Vote Misguided; Reproductive Freedom Could Be Undermined By Bill’s Passage March 25, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Media@dcaclu.org WASHINGTON - Following the Senate’s adoption of the so-called "Unborn Victims of Violence Act," the American Civil Liberties Union today called the measure an ill-advised assault on reproductive freedom, saying that pregnant women could be protected without adopting the bill’s approach of undermining the right to choose abortion. "This thinly veiled attempt to create fetal rights is an effort to further erode the reproductive rights of women," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative...

NOW Fights Right-Wing Assault on Abortion Rights, Urges Supporters to March on April 25th March 26, 2004 "Under the guise of maternal and fetal protection, reproductive freedoms are once again under attack," said NOW President Kim Gandy, responding to yesterday's 61-38 Senate vote in favor of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA). "This legislation is another underhanded attempt to roll back women's rights. Giving a fetus at any stage of development the same legal rights as the pregnant woman will undermine the right to abortion as guaranteed under Roe v. Wade." Attempting to protect current abortion laws, Senator...

Veazey: Fetal Rights Bill Has Radical Implications for Freedom of Religion; President Bush, as a Person of Faith, Should Not Sign Bill 3/26/2004 2:53:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Deks Contact: Marjorie Signer of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, 202-628-7700 ext. 12, msigner@rcrc.org WASHINGTON, March 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by Reverend Carlton W. Veazey, president, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: "The U.S. Senate's passage March 25 of the so-called 'Unborn Victims of Violence Act' has radical implications for freedom of religion and conscience in America. This bill would enact into law a narrow religious belief...

Unborn Children Given New Status Senate Passes Bill Redefining 'Person' POSTED: 6:06 am CST March 25, 2004 UPDATED: 6:24 am CST March 25, 2004 DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Senate passed a bill that would give the unborn victims of a violent crime the same status as a person. The bill would allow prosecutors to charge someone with a separate, equally serious crime if an unborn child is killed during a violent crime. It does that by redefining a person as a human being at any stage of development. Approved 30-19 late Wednesday night, some lawmakers who opposed the...