Also known as: fetus · foetal · fetal · unborn child
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An unborn human offspring developing in the uterus after the embryonic stage.
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Francesca Fowler learns she is carrying a foetus at twelve weeks and seeks an abortion in a state that now prohibits the procedure after six weeks. The clinic refuses service under the new statute. Francesca sues, but the court applies rational basis review and upholds the ban because no federal constitutional right protects access to the procedure.
Faye Fuller, pregnant with a foetus diagnosed with a severe anomaly, challenges a state law banning nearly all abortions before viability. She argues the statute violates substantive due process. The court rejects the claim, holding that the federal Constitution confers no right to terminate the pregnancy.
Finn Fletcher's partner carries a foetus at twenty-four weeks. A physician plans a dilation and extraction procedure. State prosecutors threaten charges under a statute modeled on the federal ban. The court must decide whether the law imposes an undue burden on the decision to end the pregnancy.
Fumiko Fujimoto operates a clinic providing services to women carrying nonviable foetuses. New state rules require admitting privileges at local hospitals and strict facility standards. The clinic sues, claiming the rules close facilities and burden access before viability.
Felix Franco represents a patient whose foetus is at fifteen weeks. A state statute bans abortions after six weeks with narrow exceptions. The patient seeks an injunction, but the court dismisses the federal claim because authority to regulate the procedure now rests with the states.
Floyd Franklin's wife is pregnant with a foetus at twenty weeks. State law requires physicians to test for viability before performing any abortion. The hospital refuses the procedure without testing. The court evaluates whether the testing mandate survives constitutional scrutiny under then-existing precedent.
States may regulate or prohibit abortion under rational basis review. No federal right prevents states from drawing lines based on gestational age or other factors.
Supporting sources
A tortfeasor who causes harm to an unborn child faces liability to the child once born alive under the applicable restatement rule.
Supporting sources
A pregnancy already underway counts as a period of gestation that extends the permissible vesting period so the child may be born and take the interest.
Supporting sources
…with Art. 1195, compose Chapter 9 of Title 15 of the Penal Code. Article 1195, not attacked here, reads: "Art. 1195. Destroying unborn child "Whoever shall during parturition of the mother destroy the vitality or life in a child in a state of being born and before actual birth, which child would otherwise have been born alive,…