The Kaohsiung District Court has ruled that a married couple who frequently
smoked methamphetamine at home during the wife's pregnancy cannot be
sentenced for impeding their child's development... since the unborn fetus is
not a person in the view of the Criminal Code.

The court said the father and pregnant mother was said to have frequently
smoked the synthetic drug in the presence of their one year son...

The city's Social Affairs Bureau intervened after the parent's actions were
reported and took hair samples from the couple's 1-year-old son for for
testing... and found high concentrations of methamphetamine.

Prosecutors indicted the couple for potentially impeding the development of
their first child and unborn second child.

But the court says the parents could not be found guilty for the crime with
regard to their second child, as a fetus is not considered a "person" under
that Criminal Code, with personhood defined as beginning at birth.

The ruling can be appealed.