Experimentation Becomes a Crime: Fetal Research in Massachusetts

Abstract

IN the aftermath of the Supreme Court's abortion decisions in early 1973 there has been a rash of legislative action in the states and a rush to the courts by proponents on both sides of the issues to seek clarification of the many unanswered questions that remain in the wake of these historic pronouncements of the law.¹ Among the most serious questions raised by the decisions is the fate of the human fetus involved. The Supreme Court held that the fetus, before a vaguely defined stage of viability, is not a "person" subject to the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment . . .