La tutela dell’innocente. Un punto di osservazione sul ruolo della Corte costituzionale

In the Italian legal system,the juridicalstatus of the unborn childis not clearly defined. In 1975, the Constitutional Court ruled that the fetus is a human individual, but not a human person. Ever since,the unborn child’s rights have sometimes been denied and sometimes affirmed. For instance theAssisted FertilizationAct states that it is necessary to consider the rights of all parties involved «including offspring», but most courts tends to recognise the existence of a right to the child as a right over the child. Such contradictions reflect the difficulties inreaching an optimal balance between the respect for human life from the outset and the values at play inreproductive technologies.