[EMBRYO AND HUMAN FETUS: LEGAL PROTECTION ISSUES]

The article deals with some problematic aspects of the legal protection of the human embryo and fetus. It is established that according to the legislation of Ukraine a live-born child will be considered a subject of legal relations irrespective of the week of pregnancy and state of health. Various scientific legal and medical approaches to the issue of completing the period of embryonic development have been investigated. The positions of scientists on the legal protection of embryos, which were conceived using reproductive technologies, namely, until their implementation in the body of the future mother, are analyzed. It is proved that all embryos need special protection, regardless of the method of their conception, and it has also been established that various manipulations with embryos are prohibited in order to conduct medical experiments. Foreign experience of legislative regulation of the beginning of life is investigated. It is established that in Ukraine the civil capacity of a natural person arises at the moment of its birth, but in the cases established by law, the interests of a conceived but not born child are protected. The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the protection of the «unborn life» is analyzed. It is proposed to characterize the legal status of «embryo» and «human fetus» as «subjective», which provides for separate elements of legal protection, and in the case of transition to a subjective state - protection of property rights, the grounds for which occurred during the «pre-subject» of the «state». The necessity to establish in the legislation of Ukraine a uniform approach to the determination of the period of embryonic development and its completion, as well as the corresponding changes to Part 2 of Art. 2 of the Law of Ukraine «On Prohibition of Human Reproductive Cloning».