NW council loses bid for compensation for girl with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

A North West council has lost its bid in the Court of Appeal to establish that the mother of a girl born with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome had committed a crime by drinking heavily during the pregnancy.

The mother had been given warnings about the damage such drinking – half a bottle of vodka and eight cans of strong lager – would cause.

The girl, who is aged seven and in care, was born with brain damage.

Lawyers for the unnamed local authority argued that there had been a crime under s. 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

If correct, this would have meant that compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme could have been claimed on behalf of the child.

According to the BBC, Lord Justice Treacy concluded that an “essential ingredient” for the crime was the infliction of grievous bodily harm on a person – and GBH on a foetus was not sufficient.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) and Birthrights intervened in the case because they believed “it would establish a legal precedent which could be used to prosecute women who drink while pregnant and would do nothing for the health of alcoholic mothers and their babies”. 

In a statement Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Rebecca Schiller, co-chair of Birthrights, said: “This is an extremely important ruling for women everywhere. The UK’s highest courts have recognised that women must be able to make their own decisions about their pregnancies.

“Both the immediate and broader implications of the case were troubling. In seeking to establish that the damage caused to a foetus through heavy drinking was a criminal offence, the case called into question women’s legal status while pregnant, and right to make their own decisions. Any ruling which found that drinking while pregnant constituted a ‘crime of violence’ could have paved the way to the criminalisation of pregnant women’s behaviour – an alarming prospect given the ever expanding list of activities women are warned may pose a risk to the health of their baby.

Neil Sugarman, the solicitor acting for the girl, expressed disappointment at the ruling. He told the BBC that his firm acted for about 80 other children with the syndrome and that they would now be looking at the implications of the ruling.

See also: Drinking during pregnancy - a violent crime? Paul Coppin's analysis of the case ahead of the Court of Appeal hearing.