at conception.
"Without in any way restricting the right of privacy of aIn view of the law, this news item excerpted from the Chicago Sun Times is disconcerting and has significant implications.
woman
or the right of a woman to an abortion under those decisions, the General
Assembly
of the State of Illinois do solemnly declare and find in reaffirmation of the
longstanding policy of this State, that the unborn child is a human being
from
the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for purposes of the
unborn child's right to life and is entitled to the right to life from
conception under
the laws and Constitution of this State. (720 ILCS 510/1) (from Ch. 38,
par. 81 21)"
February 5, 2005
BY STEVE PATTERSON AND ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters
A frozen embryo destroyed in a Chicago fertility clinic was a human being whose parents are entitled to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, a Cook County judge ruled Friday.
Attorneys on both sides of the abortion issue said it was the first such ruling they had heard of as the country debates whether stem cells derived from embryos can be used in research and medicine.
Alison Miller and Todd Parrish hoped to conceive a child with help from the Center for Human Reproduction, but the one fertilized egg the couple created was thrown out 'in error' by a clinic worker.
Friday, Judge Jeffrey Lawrence II said 'a pre-embryo is a 'human being' ... whether or not it is implanted in its mother's womb' and the couple is entitled to seek the same compensation awarded to other parents whose children are killed.
'Philosophers and theologians may debate,' he wrote, 'but there is no doubt in the mind of the Illinois Legislature when life begins. It begins at conception.'"
What do you think about this legal decision? Wouldn't it be considered more reasonable to consider the act of the clinic as a breach of contract or malpractice? ..Maurice.
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