Social and Legal Studios

Abstract

The article deals with the debatable and important issue of the incipient moment of human life. The author analyzes various scientific views on this problem, as well as the provisions of domestic and international normative legal acts. There are three approaches to the incipient moment of life that exist in the jurisprudence. The analysis of the works of scientists engaged in this topic is carried out. The author proves the need to improve the criminal legislation of Ukraine determining the incipient moment of human life, and emphasizes that its establishment is an important criterion for the criminal-law qualification of crimes. It can be stated that the child's life, in particular its initial stage, has not received adequate criminal-law protection in Ukraine. Since the final moment of human life is considered to be biological death, which is established on the basis of fixing irreversible changes in the cerebral cortex and the central nervous system (brain death), then the incipient moment of human life should be recognized the period after reaching the fetus 22 weeks of intrauterine development. In the Criminal Code of Ukraine it is necessary to provide that an attempt on the life of a child during the pregnancy term of more than twenty two weeks, regardless of his location (inside or outside the mother's body), is intentional or negligent death (for example: during childbirth, as a result of provision of medical services of bad quality, or illegal abortion if it caused the death (killing) of the fetus), since such an attempt is aimed at causing the death of a living human being who has reached the necessary fetal development to continue his life outside the mother’s body, and the illegal abortion should refer only to cases of abortion in the period up to twenty-two weeks. In the case of any intentional acts aimed at intrauterine fetal death by a pregnant woman of more than twenty-two weeks, it is necessary to qualify the act as a deliberate killing of an infant

Keywords: incipient moment, life, birth, crime, man, embryo, fetus, qualification

Suggested citation