Founding Executive Director
CurrentThe subject of The Voice of the Unborn Baby is parents’ grief after a miscarriage. Miscarriage is a tragic possibility that faces expecting parents of all cultures and of all walks of life. However, if such tragic possibility materialises before 26 weeks of pregnancy, the statutory legal regime as it currently stands makes it very difficult – if not impossible – for grieving parents to bury the miscarried foetus, which many expecting parents already perceive as their ‘child’. Having the opportunity to give one’s child – even if it was a non-viable foetus – a proper and dignified burial, is essential to facilitate such parents’ emotional process of dealing with their grief. The healing value of going through a burial ritual transcends cultures and religions – it is universal. Instead, a miscarried foetus that has been in utero less than 26 weeks is simply regarded as medical waste.We have obtained the legal opinion of counsel at the Pretoria Bar that specialises in human rights and medical law. Said legal opinion concludes that the current legal regime infringes at least three enumerated constitutional rights of expecting parents who suffer a miscarriage, viz dignity, equality, and privacy. In the case of a miscarriage, a person or persons who would have been a parent or parents of such child that would have been born had the miscarried pregnancy been carried full term and resulted in a live birth (‘bereaved parent or parents’), have the right to bury* the remains of the miscarried foetus, if such bereaved parent or parents so elect. *Including 'cremation'.Expecting parents across all walks of life who suffer pregnancy loss and who wish to say goodbye to their hoped-for child in a dignified fashion, should be given the CHOICE to do so. Sonja
