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39 Medico-Legal J. 1 (1971)

handle is hein.journals/medlgjr39 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Founded i9oi Vol. 39 1971 Part One EDITORIAL The viability watershed A CHILD is deemed to have a separate existence if it has issued alive completely from the mother's body; only a brief period of existence need occur and the umbilical cord need not have been cut. By the Births and Deaths Registration Acts the point in gestation at which viability has been arbitrarily set is 28 weeks. A child born dead after 28 weeks' of pregnancy must be registered as a stillbirth: before that time it is an abortion for which no administrative formality is required and it may be destroyed in a sanitary manner, which often means the hospital incinerator. A child born alive before 28 weeks is required to be registered as a live birth. The mother of a stillborn child can claim a maternity grant and a maternity allowance for 18 weeks, starting 11 weeks before the expected date of delivery (Department of Health and Social Security leaflet M1 17a). She cannot claim a burial grant for the child. An insured woman who has a miscarriage may claim only the ordinary sickness benefit. Apart from the difficulty of determining the exact duration of pregnancy, babies born before 28 weeks gestation have survived to maturity, although usually with small stature. The World Health Organization recognizes the difficulty and recommends that a birth weight of 1000Gm should be regarded as the test of viability instead of the notional period of gestation. It is an offence under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 section 58 to use an instrument or administer a drug to procure a miscarriage; after 28 weeks the offence is child destruction (Infant Life (preservation) Act 1929). Since the Abor- tion Act 1967 many foetuses have been removed lawfully by hysterotomy in advanced pregnancy and some have been born alive. Strictly, these should be registered as live births. Would the laws of burial and cremation apply? Would such a foetus become a body for the purposes of the Human Tissue Act 1961? Foetal material has long been used for tissue and viral cultures, without it poliomyelitis vaccine, which has saved countless lives and prevented much disable- ment, could not have been produced. Since foetal material has become more readily available the public has expressed concern that an infant with a chance of achieving adult life might be used for research of similar purposes. It has been alleged that foetal tissue has been bought and sold.