Every week in the United Kingdom, about 1,000 children are born handicapped. Their afflictions may have been caused by drugs, radiation, diseases during pregnancy. pollution, or the genetic shortcomings of the parents. In English law, such an injured child has, until recently, had no right to sue for damage done to it while still a foetus - the law took the view that a foetus was not a legal person possessed of legal rights. The Congenital Disabilities Act. which received the Royal Assent in July this year, aimed to invest the foetus with sufficient status in law that if it were born alive, yet damaged, it could sue.
Ian Kennedy of the Faculty of Laws at King's College. London , argues that the new legislation will in practice do little to help either child or parent.