Small Remains : The Fate of the Fœtus and the Stillborn

Résumé 0

In the last two decades, we have witnessed a social dynamics of recognition of perinatal mourning. If the suffering of the parents benefits from some forms of support, what happens to the dead body? Stillborn, those fetuses never achieve full person status. This has significant consequences on the way these bodies are dealt with. Apart from a rather coherent set of norms stemming from the transformation of the values and the practices, this article displays a diversity of responses perceptible on the field. Even if the norm injects solemnity in the burial, nevertheless these bodies are not systematically elevated to the rank of corpses, which would equate them to dead human bodies. The vast majority of them are treated as anatomical spare parts, arousing ethical questions related to their “packaging, storage, transport, and disposal”.