
Pretoria - If we are a caring and compassionate society, why do we not allow allow grieving parents to bury their unborn babies? This was the question posed by counsel acting for the organisation Voice of the Unborn Baby to Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi.
The organisation is asking the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to declare that if parents lose their unborn baby before 26 weeks, they must be allowed to bury it, as is in the case of babies which are stillborn.
They are asking the judge to declare certain provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (BADRA) as being unconstitutional in so far as it precludes the right to parents to bury their dead foetuses up to 26 weeks of gestation.
Parents who are awaiting the outcome of the application will meanwhile have to wait a while longer, as Judge Mngqibisa-Thusi on Friday said she needed time to work through all the arguments. She indicated that she will deliver her judgment sometime during the first term next year.
Advocate Donrich Thaldar, acting for the organisation, meanwhile delivered a passionate and emotional argument this week in his bid to convince the court that the parents have the right to grieve their unborn child. He said some parents chose to do this by way of burying their unborn child and it is inhumane to deny them this.