At what point does a fetus become a person? That question is often raised not only in the long-running debate over abortion, but also in legal circles. Connecticut courts have held that babies simply need to be “born alive,” even if not viable outside the womb, to be treated as persons under criminal and civil law.
A lawsuit involving a Stamford doctor and a 22-week-old fetus is the latest case to test the doctrine. In what one legal observer called a “significant” decision, a state judge has found that a wrongful death action can be pursued in a case in which a nonviable fetus is injured, is then born alive before viability, and dies soon afterward.
