Foeticide
[1] Definitions differ between legal and medical applications, whereas in law, feticide frequently refers to a criminal offense,[2] in medicine the term generally refers to a part of an abortion procedure in which a provider intentionally induces fetal demise to avoid the chance of an unintended live birth, or as a standalone procedure in the case of selective reduction.
Foetus, meaning child, is an alternate form of fetus coming from the writings of Isidorus, who preferred oe due to its association with foveo "I cherish" as opposed to feo "I beget".
The law defines "child in utero" as "a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."
[11] In 2011 Shuai was charged by Indiana authorities with murder and foeticide after her suicide attempt resulted in the death of the child she was pregnant with.
Shuai's case was the first in the history of Indiana in which a woman was prosecuted for murder for a suicide attempt while pregnant.
[12] In 2013 Shuai pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal recklessness and was released, having been sentenced to time served.
[17] In Costa Rican law, feticide exists as a crime, but it does not stand equivalent to homicide, nor does it result in similar penalties.
[18] This has resulted in numerous women being charged and convicted for miscarriages, as was the case with Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz,[19] María Teres, and others.
[21] In Honduran law, causing the death of a fetus where the mother is visibly pregnant is known legally as feticide.
[18] Under Article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Dominican Republic, "Whoever, by means of food, medicines, medicines, probes, treatments or in any other way, causes or directly cooperates to cause the abortion of a pregnant woman, even if she consents to it, shall be punished with the penalty of minor imprisonment.
The crime, which is known simply as abortion occurs when someone "unlawfully administers to her (a pregnant person), or causes her to take, any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatsoever" but only if they also have "intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman".
The crime for intentionally inducing a miscarriage, which is known as "Administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion" occurs when someone "with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman,... unlawfully administers to her or causes to be taken by her any poison or other noxious thing or unlawfully uses any instrument or other means whatsoever".
[37] In English law, "child destruction" is the crime of killing a fetus "capable of being born alive", before it has "a separate existence".
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends foeticide be performed "before medical abortion after 21 weeks and 6 days of gestation to ensure that there is no risk of a live birth".
[44][45][46][47][48] In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled that a legal ban on intact dilation and extraction procedures does not apply if foeticide is completed before surgery starts.
