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Real guardianship of the embryo means protection on a legal basis. This study shows that the human embryo is an object entitled to a legal safeguard that attributes human life to it. To ensure that the embryo has a right to be defended does not mean that it is to be considered a subject of law or a person. Although the cycle that leads to the gradual development of a human body is taken for granted in the biological sciences, its legal significance is conceptually different. According to many European civil codes, legal standing (i.e., a legal personality) is acquired at the moment of birth. Life before birth must therefore be considered an object of protection by the legal system and separate from the protection of living individuals.