Judgment, 2 June 1987
Annual Review of Population Law 15: 32
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12289532 Document Number: 383605
The Court of Appeal of Douai held that a viable fetus that died subsequent to a traffic accident in which its mother was injured was a protected person under the voluntary homicide statute. It based its decision on the fact that "the law guarantees respect for every human being from the beginning of its life" and reasoned that, if the fetus had only been injured in the accident and born alive, it would have been protected by the law.