PARIS, June 26, 2002 (LSN.ca) - France’s supreme court, the Cour de Cassation ruled Tuesday that an unborn child does not have the legal status of a living person. The ruling overturned a lower court ruling from 2000 where a doctor and midwife were found guilty of manslaughter in the death of a child during labor in 1991. “The principle behind the legality of crimes and punishment, requiring a strict interpretation of penal law, is opposed to the possibility of trial for manslaughter in the case of a child not born alive,” the Cour de Cassation ruled Karen Murawsky of Campaign Life Coalition Canada deplored the judgment saying: “This ruling suggests that unborn children in France like those in Canada are worth absolutely nothing and with absolutely no rights.” See the Reuters coverage: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020625/hl_nm/france_fetus_1