If a child is harmed before it is born, it can have claims against the perpetrator. Does this also apply if it is not a third party but the mother of the child who is the perpetrator? Civil law does not offer effective protection to children who are endangered or harmed by their mother before birth. Effective protective measures are not possible mainly because of the conflicting rights of the expectant mother. In the field of tension between social, moral and legal considerations, the author investigates the questions of whether a mother has to pay damages to the child for injuries during pregnancy, on what conditions this depends and whether such liability is in the child's interest at all. The preventive protection of civil law by the courts, the father or the child himself is also discussed.