Italian top court decrees that a foetus is a ‘person’ during labour

Italy’s top court has declared that the foetus must be considered a person during its mother’s labour.

The decision concerns an obstetrician who was accused with negligence in the death of a new-born baby.

The Supreme Court of Cassation said that this is culpable manslaughter and not culpable abortion if  the death of the foetus is caused during labour.

In the present context of “total broadening of the safeguard of the rights of the person and the notion of subject deserving of safeguard,” the top justices wrote, “the foetus, although still in the uterus, must be considered a ‘person’  during labour.

Safeguarding potential rights extend from the future person to the conceived child to the embryo, the Cassation Court said.

The court’s rulings set precedents for the Italian legal system.

Via ANSA