Father fights to stop abortion

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 10

Father fights to stop abortion

NZPA correspondent London The Appeal Court In London yesterday adjourned a case brought by a man who earlier in the day failed to win a High Court order preventing his former girlfriend having an abortion.

In a historic finding, the High Court judge, Mrs Justice Rose Heilbron, ruled that the mother could proceed with the operation. A foetus had no legal right to sustain its life through a third party and, in the eyes of the law, would not be alive when it was aborted at 18 weeks, she said.

The mother, aged 21, a university student, was due to have the abortion yesterday. Depending on the Appeal Court’s ruling,

it is likely that the operation will be carried out tomorrow.

Questions over whether an 18-week foetus was alive were raised in the Appeal Court.

Counsel for the father stated that an 18-week foetus was capable of being born alive, even if it could not breathe because its lungs were not developed. However, lungs were not necessary to prove that life existed. Lord Justice Stephen Russell responded by asking whether a chicken was still alive when its head had been cut off, but it was still running around. The answer was “no” because it was lacking something essential to life.

The hearing continues today.