Re F. (in utero), 4 February 1988.
The local authority applied to make the unborn child of a mentally disturbed woman prone to drug abuse a ward of the court.  The Court of Appeal of the UK rejected the application, ruling that it had no jurisdiction to make an unborn child the ward of the court.  It based its judgment on the principle that a fetus has no status as a legal person or rights under the law until it is born and separate from its mother.
D001519:Behavior; D002655:Child Custody; D002668:Child Rearing; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D004194:Disease; D005060:Europe; D005333:Fetus; D007603:Jurisprudence; D001523:Mental Disorders; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011640:Public Policy; D012098:Reproduction; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D006113:United Kingdom
Behavior; Child Custody--legal aspects; Child Rearing; Court Decision; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Diseases; Drug Usage; Europe; Fetus; Mental Disorders; Northern Europe; Population; Population Characteristics; Pregnancy; Pregnant Women; Reproduction; Social Protection; United Kingdom