Can a fetus have a legal existence? A dramatic accident that occurred in July reignites the debate. While driving to the maternity ward to give birth, a 23-year-old young woman lost her baby in a collision with another vehicle. However, for the sake of justice, this child, who was not yet born, does not exist… legally speaking. Me Antoine Régley, nevertheless, decided to file a complaint for “involuntary manslaughter”, “in order to move the case law”.
The story begins with a first visit to the maternity ward in Arras, in Pas-de-Calais, on Thursday July 27. Angélique K. and Valentin S. are preparing to discover the joys of parenthood. They are expecting little Jade, their first child. It will finally be for the next day. The collar is not open enough. Hospital staff send them home. Appointment is made for Friday, at 1 p.m.
Registered in the family record book
The couple will never honor this appointment. The next day, on the way to the maternity ward, shortly before noon, they were hit by a Clio which was driving in the wrong direction on the departmental road between Douai and Arras. “I couldn’t avoid the shock,” Valentin S. tells 20 minutes. And it was my wife who took everything. » The accident causes Angélique’s water to break. When help arrives, it is too late, the child she has been carrying for nine months has died. She herself was hospitalized for two weeks, suffering from four broken ribs and two damaged lower backs.
However, when Valentin S. went to the gendarmerie to file a complaint, he discovered that the homicide could not be upheld. “However, we organized an official ceremony for Jade and she is registered in our family record book with the mention of the birth certificate of a dead child,” he wonders. “The medical examinations also show that the death was the consequence of the accident,” adds Me Antoine Régley, the couple’s lawyer.
What the Northern couple is experiencing echoes the accident involving comedian Pierre Palmade, which occurred in February. In this case, homicide was recognized because the fetus had time to breathe, if only for a few seconds, before dying.
“Inconsistencies” and “inequities”
However, under French law, the in utero death of a fetus cannot be considered “involuntary homicide”. The case law is clear. Since a ruling by the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation – which represents the highest French court – dating from 1999 and confirmed in 2001, the death of a fetus cannot be classified as homicide. Even if it was viable at the time of death, even if the term was imminent, even if, in its 2001 judgment, the Court of Cassation recognized “inconsistencies” and “inequities” in this criminal distinction. “As long as a child is not born, he is not considered a human being in his own right, he does not have legal personality and therefore cannot be recognized as a victim,” he had already indicated to 20 minutes Me Franck Samson, lawyer specializing in traffic offenses.
“Our complaint aims to try to change this law,” insists Me Antoine Régley. It is not logical to consider the homicide of a 7-month-old fetus and not that of a 9-month-old only because the former would have breathed before dying. Human life exists in utero. »
“Jade was already very present”
A finding confirmed by scientific research in recent decades which has also led to sensory practices with the fetus, such as haptonomy. “Every evening, when I massaged my wife, I felt the reactions of the child who came to nestle in the palm of my hands,” confirms, with emotion, Valentin S. “I knew what time she woke up. I was talking to her and she was sharing her emotions with me. Jade was already there, remembers Angélique K., on the verge of tears. So, to hear that the driver who hit us will not be prosecuted for “homicide” is inaudible. »
Me Régley decided to support a complaint for “manslaughter” of a petition. According to him, “it is possible to reconcile the right to abortion, which is so important, and the recognition of the homicide of the unborn child”. And to recall that the World Health Organization (WHO) has also defined that a fetus is viable after 22 weeks of amenorrhea: “It would therefore be possible to use this argument and this limit to protect the child to be born, providing, of course, exceptions for medical interruptions as already exists. »
“A part of us left with Jade,” continues Valentin S.. “We would like the justice system to consider that this is not simply an “aggravated injury”. »