In the UK the "murder" of an unborn child is merely an offence under the
Infant Life (Preservation) Act. In order to actually murder a child the
child must "have an existence independent of its mother", and to have
such an existence the child must have been "wholly expelled from its
mothers body and be alive". You can however murder a child which has
been born by having caused it injury whilst it was in the womb.
Slightly off topic, though.
Due to piqued curiosity, I've spoke to the Information Commissioner's
office and the view there (from the individual I spoke to) was that as
"living individual" is not defined in the DPA, it will be a wider legal
issue as to whether a foetus is a "living individual". It may therefore
be appropriate to look to the abortion laws to ascertain the point at
which a foetus becomes a living individual and therefore accrues
rights/protections under the DPA.
This, in my view, leads to a confusing situation as it is an established
legal principle that unborn children have no legal rights, but that they
do have certain protections under specific laws. Therefore the
"protections" under the DPA would apply, but the "rights" wouldn't (at
least until it was born).
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Roland Perry
Sent: 11 March 2005 10:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Unborn child - DPA living individual
In message <[log in to unmask]>, at 09:30:16 on Fri, 11 Mar
2005, datap <[log in to unmask]> writes
>I would think that the infant becomes a "living individual" once it is
>registered as such on being born.
iirc you have something like a month to register the birth. I'm sure the
baby is living individual during that time.
The Americans are acutely aware of the issue of when babies become a
life, as some pressure groups there want the murder of a pregnant mother
(and hence the unborn child) to count as "two" strikes (and you are
out).
--
Roland Perry
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list
owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message is sent in confidence for the addressee only. It may
contain legally privileged information. The contents are not to be
disclosed to anyone other than the addressee. Unauthorised
recipients are requested to preserve this confidentiality and to
advise us of any errors in transmission. Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
