NOVEMBER 12, 2021
International Campaign for Safe Abortion
A proposal by representatives of two anti-abortion groups and the Catholic Church has made its way up the court system in South Africa to the Constitutional Court and had it first hearing on 4 November 2021 by eight justices in an initial a four-hour hearing.
The issue was whether, after a miscarriage at any point less than 26 weeks of pregnancy, the “parents of an unborn child” should have the right, though not the obligation, to bury the fetal remains, including informally (e.g. in their own garden). As it stands, the law itself does not appear to prohibit this, but in line with BADRA, the official regulations for data collection on births and deaths, it is not allowed. After all such miscarriages, the fetal remains must be incinerated in the hospital.