R. v. Sullivan.

In R. v. Sullivan two lay midwives were charged with criminal negligence causing the death of a child in the process of being born, and criminal negligence causing bodily harm to its mother. Two issues particularly relevant to women's position under law were raised in this case. The British Columbia Court of Appeal held that a child in the process of being born was hot a "person" for the purposes of section 203 of the Criminal Code, and acquitted both accused. In so doing, they declined to impose on a pregnant woman a legal duty towards her unborn child. However, in substituting a conviction for criminal conviction causing bodily harm to the mother (holding, without precedent, that the fetus was a part of the mother at the time of its death), the Court upheld the Trial Judge's finding that the appropriate standard of care for lay midwives under section 198 of the Code was the same as that expected of a "qualified medical practitioner." This finding may have severely limited women's future opportunities to develop alternatives to the medical birth model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]