Foetus

Voice of the Unborn Baby challenges the High Court so that parents can bury or cremate their foetus. / Image via: pxhere.com

Voice of the Unborn Baby: Parents should be able to bury foetus

Voice of the Unborn Baby will challenge the constitution at the Gauteng High Court, to establish parents’ right to bury a foetus.

Foetus

Voice of the Unborn Baby challenges the High Court so that parents can bury or cremate their foetus. / Image via: pxhere.com

Organisation, Voice of the Unborn Baby, is set to challenge the constitution to establish parents’ right to bury a foetus and not have it discarded as medical waste. The request is due to be heard on 14 and 15 November 2019, by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

According to Pretoria News, the organisation will request the court to declare that certain sections of the Birth and Deaths Registration Act are invalid, as it does not make provision for the right of bereaved parents, other than to a stillborn, to bury the foetus if they so wished.

Here’s what could happen to a foetus now 

Currently, parents who lose a foetus younger than 26 weeks, do not legally have the right to bury or cremate the remains. It is instead regarded as medical waste and accordingly disposed of.

Voice of the Unborn Baby is taking on legislation with the aim of allowing parents to choose whether they want to bury the remains of a foetus under 26 weeks.

Attorney, Renaldi Ingram, said across cultures, burial or cremation is an important way in which bereaved people say their final goodbyes to loved ones who have passed away.

“Psychologists tell us that burial or cremation can fulfil a crucial role in the grieving process. It helps those left behind to come to terms with the reality of the loss, while being supported by family and friends. 

At the opposite side of the cycle of life is the beginning of life,” said Ingram. 

An early emotional bond 

Ingram explained that because of technologies like ultrasound, expecting parents can nowadays see their unborn babies in the mother’s womb weeks or even months before the baby is born. This has contributed to parents starting to emotionally bond with their foetus more intensely before its birth.

“In the tragic event of a miscarriage, many parents feel a great sense of loss. For them, the loss of the unborn baby is the same as the loss of a child who was already born. The same can often be the case with the termination of pregnancy,” added Ingram. 

According to current South African law, a foetus that is miscarried (born dead before 26 weeks of gestation) or perished in a termination of pregnancy procedure, cannot be buried or cremated.

Ingram said bereaved parents are legally banned from choosing to have a proper, dignified burial (or cremation) for their unborn child.

The opposition to burying or cremating a foetus 

The ministries of Home Affairs and Health are set to oppose the application. They said the Birth and Death Registration Act did not make provision for the burial of a foetus.

Their argument states that a medical doctor present at a still-birth or examining the corpse shall then issue a death certificate, which could not be done in the case of a foetus. It can be argued that foetuses, other than still-births, are incinerated along with medical waste. Their argument goes that it is settled law that a foetus does not have legal rights.