Alabama High Court Says Term 'Child' Applies to Unborn

The Alabama Supreme Court handed down a decision today declaring that the term “child” in a state law includes the unborn.

“The Alabama Supreme Court has given us a decision that is almost unique – it uses common sense and logical consistency when talking about unborn children,” said Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life.  “In ruling that a child is a child whether born or unborn, the Alabama justices have cut through decades of tortured, twisted rationales and issued a national call for courts to recognize the obvious – all humans have the right to life.”

The Alabama Supreme Court held that a state statute prohibiting a child from being exposed to drugs or drug paraphernalia applied to both born and unborn children. 

The case had been brought by a woman who took illegal substances while pregnant and pleaded guilty to the chemical endangerment of a child.  She argued that the statute only applied to a child who had been born.