Foetuses which failed to survive past 26 weeks have in the past been effectively considered ‘medical waste’ under the Births and Deaths Registration Act and have, as a result, been incinerated.

But the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) handed down a landmark ruling setting aside various sections of the Act and giving would-be parents who had lost children during pregnancy the right to bury them – so long as the loss was not ‘through human intervention’, for example, abortion.

A report in The Citizen notes that when the matter comes before the Constitutional Court on appeal in November, the Catholic Archdiocese of Durban – which has been joined as a party in the case – is hoping to convince the justices to reconsider this stance.

‘The church respectfully contends that the burial right should be afforded to all bereaved parents,’ Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, recently retired Archbishop of Durban, said in an affidavit.

‘By excluding pregnancy loss “through human intervention” from the scope of the burial right, the court’s order perpetuates an unjustifiable limitation of the rights of bereaved parents who have experienced pregnancy loss of that nature and wish to, but may not, bury their children,’ said Napier.

The Departments of Health and Home Affairs is also appealing the ruling.

Home Affairs DG Livhuwani Tommy Makhode said in papers there was ‘no factual or legal basis’ for the order.

Full report in The Citizen