CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE LEGAL STATUS OF EMBRYO AND FETUS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE
CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE LEGAL STATUS OF EMBRYO AND FETUS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the right to life is the human person, but it remains to consider whether the early stages of human existence, respectively the fetus and human embryo are also included in this category. Scientific studies have concluded that the embryo contains all the human components, conclusion that strengthened the traditional position of the Catholic Church, in the sense of equivalence between abortion and infanticide, irrespectively if it was about the destruction of the fetus or only of the embryo. Doctrinal debates still continue regarding the personality of the fetus, one of the views pointing out that if we admitted that the fetus was a person separate from its mother, the issue of the reduced consistency of its personality would be raised. In terms of history, the status of the fetus, in Roman law, was that of an entity that belonged to nature, and not also to civil law, being considered a part of the mother’s viscera (pars viscerum matris) or part of the woman (pars mulieris), and not an autonomous legal entity.

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