Apex court refused to confirm a Pretoria high court ruling that sections of the Births and Deaths Registration Act are unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court has declined to confirm the constitutional invalidity of sections of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. This comes after the Pretoria high court found that the Act denied parents the right to bury the remains of a foetus less than 26 weeks old.

The application was brought by The Voice of the Unborn Baby NPC and the Catholic Archdiocese of Durban against the ministers of Home Affairs and Health.

The applicants argued that the Act was "insensitive, hurtful and disrespectful" as it only allows for a death certificate to be issued in "stillborn" cases when the foetus is more than 26-weeks.

High court Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi agreed and ruled that sections of the Act are unconstitutional on the basis it "deemed a foetus less than 26-weeks to be medical waste that must be incinerated".

However, the Constitutional Court, in a unanimous judgment, said the judge was wrong. Acting Judge Pula Tlaletsi said the applicants had submitted that the provisions of the Act had the effect that no burial order could be issued for foetuses lost through...