_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________Argentina_______________
Court protects “brain dead” baby
Will not authorize abortion
An Argentine court has refused to authorize abortion in a case involving an unborn child who is severely handicapped and unlikely to survive at birth.
The court rejected arguments that the child, who is anencephalic, is “brain dead.” Anencephaly is a rare disorder in which the head of the unborn child fails to develop, and his early death becomes inevitable.
The court ruled that “brain death” is not equivalent to actual death. “Otherwise,” the majority of justices reasoned, “for the sake of coherence, we would have to argue that any fetus suffering from anencephaly is not a human being but a corpse—a dead body, a ‘thing.’” The court’s decision was guided by provisions in the Argentinean constitution that recognize the right to life of an unborn child, and of every human person from conception until natural death.
Back to Catholic World Report August/September 2001 Table of Contents