A juridical bundle

The debate spread throughout Europe. In Italy, a letter signed by the directors of obstetric and gynecology clinics of Rome’s universities caused an uproar. It states that therapeutically aborted fetuses have a right to be reanimated even against their mother’s will. “This treatment should be given to whoever has chances of survival. A 23-week newborn has great chances of survival and should be treated as any other patient.” In France, the debate was triggered by a Feb.6 Court of Cassation ruling establishing that the unborn child can be registered at the civil status office, despite weight and pregnancy duration. The parents will have the possibility of giving him a new name and organizing a funeral. Polemics sparked off between jurists and family association representatives. The facts: The ruling. In France it will be possible to insert the name of prematurely born dead fetuses in the birth register. It will be possible for parents to name the baby and organize funerals, regardless of the fetuses’ weight and pregnancy duration. This the content of a Court of Cassation ruling after three families from Southern France filed a lawsuit against the refusal to register their born-dead children: three 18-21 week-old fetuses, weighing 155 to 400 grams. In the past, families had no right to name or bury a fetus weighing less than 500 grams, according to the 1997 definition of the World Health Organisation (Who). The Cassation’s ruling and the possibility of entering the child in the birth register, enable parents to enjoy a series of social benefits, such as maternity leave. Juridical bundles. “Juridical imprecision on born-dead children”. This was the headline on the ruling of French Catholic daily “La Croix”, with articles aimed at “clarifying” an issue which strongly shook French public opinion. “The ruling doesn’t question the right to abortion. It however points to a series of flaws in French legislation on the beginning of human life”, states the introduction to the article. Bertrand Methieu Professor of Law at Paris 1 University, interviewed on this issue by the Catholic daily, defined as “very imprecise” the Cassation’s reference to article 79-1 of the Civil Code, according to which birth registration of a born-dead infant isn’t related “to his weight or to pregnancy duration”. The risk being that of “wide-ranging interpretations” to similar episodes in the future. Firstly, there is the question of social issues connected to maternity and paternity leave since – La Croix points out – the Cassation’s ruling “raises the question of whether all parents will have a right to this leave, whatever the age of the deceased fetus”. According to the Catholic daily, the possibility of declaring a dead fetus to the birth register “isn’t an act of birth, and therefore it doesn’t determine filiation. It only enables the dead child to have a name but not a surname, since it represents legal personality and can be only ascribed to a living child. In the case of born-dead fetuses, granting civil status is just a bureaucratic act”. Legislation on voluntary pregnancy interruption is more complex. While French pro-life movements like “Choisir la vie”, claim that the ruling implies an acknowledgement of “the child’s status” , viewed as “a human being since the moment of conception”, jurists have opposite views. As stated in La Croix, “registering the civil status of the child is a form of recognition which doesn’t grant legal personality to the fetus”. The article concludes by suggesting two possible ways out: enforcing the 2001 provision “establishing a threshold for civil registration of a dead infant”. The alternative is ” being caught by a legal bundle”. “In this case the judges will have to interpret the law”. The view of Catholic associations. “New progress”. This is how the National Confederation of Catholic Families Association defined the Cassation’s ruling in a press release. “The Court of Cassation recognized the existence of all born-dead fetuses, despite their stage of development”. This decision “constitutes concrete consciousness raising of human dignity”.