Commonwealth v. Cass.

KIE: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided the question of whether a viable fetus is a "person" for purposes of the vehicular homicide statute in Massachusetts. Although the common law rule in every American jurisdiction that has considered the question, including Massachusetts, has been that the destruction of the fetus in utero is not homicide, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled to the contrary. Confident in the ability of medical science to provide competent proof as to whether the conduct of the accused was the cause of death, the court held that infliction of prenatal injuries resulting in the death of a viable fetus, before or after it is born, constitutes homicide.

PMID: 12041184 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]