Kaohsiung: A married couple who frequently smoked methamphetamine at home during the wife's pregnancy cannot be sentenced for impeding their unborn child's development, as Taiwan's Criminal Code does not recognize a fetus as a person, a Kaohsiung court has ruled. The verdict by the Kaohsiung District Court highlighted that the father, surnamed Chen, and the mother, surnamed Lin, engaged in meth use in their Siaogang District home, affecting their 1-year-old son and the unborn child.

According to Focus Taiwan, the court detailed that the couple used meth multiple times from March 2024 until 12 hours before their second child was born on September 4 of that year. Following an intervention by the city's Social Affairs Bureau, tests conducted on their 1-year-old son indicated high methamphetamine levels, revealing significant developmental impairment.

Kaohsiung prosecutors had charged the couple with impeding the development of children under age 7, including charges for the unborn child. However, the court's verdict stated that Chen and Lin could not be convicted concerning their second child, as a fetus does not qualify as a "person" under Taiwan's Criminal Code, with personhood commencing at birth.

Chen was found guilty of hindering the development of the couple's first child and, considering it was his second drug-related conviction in five years, was sentenced to 1 year and two months in prison. Lin, with no prior criminal record, received a one-year suspended sentence for four years, with probation conditions and mandatory parenting-related legal education courses.

The ruling is subject to appeal.

Fetuses in Taiwanese law continue to be a complex subject. While abortion-related crimes exist in Taiwan's Criminal Code, the Reproductive Health Act of 1984 effectively legalized abortion, permitting it under specific conditions up to 24 weeks. These include health risks, fetal abnormalities, or factors affecting the woman's mental health or family life. Abortions must be performed by an authorized doctor with the spouse's consent if married, or a guardian if the woman is a minor.

Data from the Plain Law Movement website shows that between 2021 and 2023, there were 50,000 to 60,000 abortions annually, with only six prosecutions and four guilty verdicts for illegal abortions from 2019 to 2023.