Winnipeg Child and Family Services v. G (D.F.)(1997)

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A young Aboriginal woman, known as G., was ordered confined to a treatment centre because she was allegedly sniffing glue while pregnant with her fourth child. Winnipeg Child and Family Services (CFS) asked a judge for an order to have her involuntarily confined and he complied in order to protect the fetus.

LEAF intervened in this case at the Supreme Court of Canada and helped win a ruling that the law does not recognize the unborn child as a legal person possessing rights, and that any change to current law would require a major reformulation of legal principles which would have to comply with the Charter.

The court affirmed current Canadian law that a fetus is not a legal person and that the state is not entitled to take action against a pregnant woman on a fetus' behalf.