ABSTRACT
The position of the fetus has been deliberately isolated for special consideration, firstly, in the general sense that the condemned man is a principal in a hanging and deserves individual attention but, also, because the status of the fetus is being greatly changed by developments in medical expertise. Despite the persisting insistence on live birth as prerequisite to ‘fetal’ rights, it might be useful to interpolate a note on the current position of the fetus that dies as a result of negligence or criminal activity. The treatment of the fetus in utero seems hardly to have become a jurisprudential issue in the United Kingdom; by contrast, the enforced Caesarian delivery has caused something of a stir in medicolegal circles. The admission of a fetal right to abortion would have important implications for the ‘wrongful life’ action. A high proportion of late abortions are performed because there is a fetal abnormality.
