FRANCE, July 13, 2001: It all started in the year 2000 when a French court awarded damages to a mentally retarded boy because, “he had not been aborted.” Rulings since then have supported the decision made in the Perruche case. Three families with physically deformed children have brought their cases before the court. As a result France’s highest court of appeal has ruled, “that disabled children are entitled to compensation if their mothers were not given the chance of an abortion.” Doctors and public supporters for the disabled are outraged by the court’s decision. On behalf of the medical profession, lawyer Yves Richard said, “The ruling means that the handicapped have no place in our society.” It is an example of the complex ethical questions which follow in the wake of the general acceptance of abortion.
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