Conceived child as a subject of right to life

Abstract

The aim of this article is to outline the arguments in favour of acknowledging an unborn child as a subject of constitutional law with the right to life (Article 38 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland). For this purpose, the article presents an overview of the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal as well as views of legal academics and commentators and judicial decisions concerning the right to life, the concept of subject of law, and the legal position of an unborn child. Furthermore, the article reviews the international law and the case law of international tribunals. Although the Constitutional Tribunal stipulates that every person, including an unborn child, is entitled to legal subjectivity (in the judgement on case No. K 26/96), it may seem that the reasoning in this judgement is still rejected in the literature regarding both constitutional and civil law.