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The South Korean Supreme Court cleared a midwife of negligent homicide and ruled that an unborn child is not human until the mother goes into labor.

On July 16, 2007, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that an unborn child will not be considered human until the mother goes into labor. AsiaNews reported this definition came in a court decision that cleared a midwife of negligent homicide charges when, in 2001, an expectant mother consulted her at a facility in Seoul. The birth date was near, but the mother felt no labor pains. The midwife told the mother to wait two weeks, during which time the baby died of cerebral damage.

The ruling stated that “even if a C-section was possible, the mother did not have labor pains, which is the beginning of childbirth, thus the unborn baby cannot be recognized as a human being.”

This “is a social defeat,” said Father Lee Dong-ik, professor of medicine at the Catholic University of Korea. “We are living in an era in which a 21-week unborn child can be saved in an incubator and a 42-week unborn child is not considered a human being.”