Abstract: In accordance with the Criminal Code of 1969, the moment when the human being was acknowledged the right to live corresponded with the birth itself, and it was also the moment when the fundamental right to live started to be protected by the criminal law. The current criminal code has a different approach to the protection of the right to live by acknowledging the right to live for the foetus during the pregnancy or during the birth labour. The very issue proposed for debates in the current material is whether, in the conception of the current criminal legislator, it is possible to talk about the right to live even before the birth. The offence called "the bodily prejudice of the foetus" is significant from the perspective of the criminal protection of the right to live even before the birth. This offence is stipulated by Article 202, Criminal Code, an incrimination that has a novelty character as it was introduced into the national criminal legislation when the current Criminal Code entered into force. The attempt at finding an answer to the question "Does the criminal legislator acknowledge the right to live before the birth?" also involves the analysis of the contents of the incrimination called marginally "the bodily prejudice of the foetus".

Key-words: the right to live, criminal protection, foetus, pregnancy, birth labour.