Criminal Code Act 1899

Any person who, when another person is about to be delivered of a child, prevents the child from being born alive by any act or omission of such a nature that, if the child had been born alive and had then died, the person would be deemed to have unlawfully killed the child, is guilty of a crime, and is liable to imprisonment for life.

A person does not commit an offence against subsection (1) by performing a termination, or assisting in the performance of a termination, under the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018.

Note—See also the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018, section 10 in relation to a person’s criminal liability for a termination on themself.

Any person who unlawfully assaults another person who is pregnant with a child and destroys the life of, or does grievous bodily harm to, or transmits a serious disease to, the child before its birth, commits a crime.Maximum penalty—imprisonment for life. sch 1 pt 5 ch 28 s 313 amd 1988 No. 88 s 5 sch 2; 1997 No. 3 s 47; 2018 No. 23 s 24; 2024 No. 7 s 26 sch 1