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European Court Rules it's not Desirable or Possible to Determine if Unborn Child is a Person

STRASBOURG, France, July 8, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that a doctor responsible for the unintended death of a six-month-old unborn baby is innocent, because the 17-member court could not agree on whether "the unborn child was a person." The 14-2 ruling stated, "It was neither desirable, nor even possible . . . to answer in the abstract the question whether the unborn child was a person."

The ruling comes as little surprise to pro-lifers. As LifeSiteNews.com reported, last year, the only two NGO's to which the European Court granted intervener status were Family Planning Association (London) and the Centre for Reproductive Rights (New York), both pro-abortion activist organizations..

The appeal was launched by the victim's mother, Thi-Nho Vo, who, in 1991, when six months' pregnant, went to Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Lyons for a medical examination. On the same day another woman, Mrs Thanh Van Vo, was due to have a coil removed at the same hospital. Because of a mix-up caused by the fact that both women had the same surname, the doctor who examined Vo pierced her amniotic sac and court documents indicate that the action made "a therapeutic abortion necessary."

Dr. Francois Golfier was charged with causing unintentional injury. The charge was subsequently increased to one of unintentional homicide. After a lower court acquittal, Vo appealed and Golfier was charged with unintentional homicide and sentenced to six-months' imprisonment, suspended, and a fine of 10,000 French francs. The conviction was later reversed by France's highest court, arguing that the unborn child was not a human being entitled to the protection of the criminal law.

Vo applied to the European Court of Human Rights in 1999.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Europe's largest pro-life group, warned that today's European court ruling that unborn children do not have a right to life was one part of a "pincer movement" by pro-abortion politicians, doctors and judges to enshrine abortion on demand across Europe.

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, said: "Pro-abortion judges are forming a pincer movement with pro-abortion politicians to abolish any legal restraints which protect unborn children from intentional killing." Ozimic added, "We will be examining the judgement to see whether the judges were appraised of evidence such as the latest ultrasound techniques showing babies active and responsive at much younger ages than baby Vo."

Jim Hughes, Vice President of the International Right to Life Federation told LifeSiteNews.com that the pro-life movement has been warning against this very thing for some time, but “no one is listening. Unless spiritual leaders get into the battle, we’re doomed,” he warned. “If abortion is enshrined as a human right,” as the European Court has ruled, and the proposed UK legislation would mandate, governments “will begin to come after” any person or group who speaks against this right.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
European Court of Human Rights to Rule on Right to Life of the Unborn
Court Granted Intervener Status only to Two Pro-Abortion Groups
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/dec/03121001.html

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