By Hilary White
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ROME, July 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Italian court has issued a decision clarifying that under Italian law there is no such thing as a “right not to be born.”
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In recent years, the progressive devolution of the abortion philosophy has created a climate in which parents feel justified in suing doctors who fail to recommend abortion when the child is likely to be born disabled. These so-called “wrongful birth” or “wrongful life” suits have made clear in some jurisdictions into what thick morasses the “right” to unlimited abortion is quickly leading legal systems.
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British, French, US, German, Canadian and Singapore courts have all found that a doctor can be held financially accountable for not having provided the means to end the life of a child deemed so “unfit” as not to deserve life. Only a few countries, including France, have rejected the idea of “wrongful life,” enacting legislation to overturn court decisions.
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Italy’s Cassation Court ruled July 18 that protection in law of the foetus is “for birth, exclusively,” and not for “healthy birth.” The court is often used to rule on unusual cases that are considered not appropriate for the high court.
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The decision was given in response to a couple’s suit against their doctor. They claimed damages because their child was born ‘deformed’ and had they known of the disability they would have sought an abortion in some more permissive country.
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The court rejected the couple’s suit, saying, “the compensation of the damage for not aborting is not automatically a consequence of failing to fulfil the duties of giving accurate information the doctor was bound to carry out.”
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The law allows abortion only in the case of danger to the mother’s health and AGI reports that the court said, “a so-called ‘eugenetic’ (sic) abortion is not admissible, unless foetal deformations endanger the mother’s health.”
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Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
French Government Rejects ‘Right Not to be Born but Retains Wrongful Birth
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jan/02011001.html
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B.C. Doctor Ordered to Pay $325,000 for ‘Wrongful Birth’
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jan/03013005.html