Court Rules Fetus Not a Human Being

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that an unborn boy killed when an alleged drunk driver crashed into his mother’s car was not a human being under state law.

The high court, in a 6-1 ruling, agreed that a Ramsey County trial court properly dropped a charge of “vehicular homicide” because a fetus is not a human being until it is born alive and living separately from the mother.

Associate Justice Lawrence Yetka disagreed, saying the “born alive” rule is obsolete.

John Soto, accused of driving while intoxicated, crashed into a car driven by Jannet Anne Johnson, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant, at a St. Paul intersection Nov. 8, 1984. Johnson suffered bone fractures and the male fetus died of head injuries.

Charged for Death

A Ramsey County grand jury charged Soto with criminal vehicular operation resulting in the injury of Johnson and death of her unborn child.

The trial judge dismissed the charge, saying in such a case the death must be that of a human being.

“The sole issue on appeal is whether a viable fetus capable of sustained life outside the womb is a human being within the meaning of Minnesota statute,” the Supreme Court said.

The state traffic homicide law uses the phrase “death of a human being,” without precisely defining the term “human being.” But “to become a human being within the meaning of homicide statutes at common law, a child had to be born alive and have an existence independent of and separate from its mother,” the court said.

Outside of Jurisdiction

“It is not within our judicial province, under the guise of interpretation, to hold that the words human being as used in Minnesota (law) encompass a viable 8 1/2-month-old fetus.”

In a dissenting opinion, Yetka said medical science has demonstrated that a fetus late in pregnancy is “capable of independent and separate life.”

Yetka said the majority opinion is hard to understand because the defense conceded that if the child had been born in the car before the accident or as a result of the crash, and then died, the vehicular homicide law would apply without question.