BIRTHS REGISTRATION LAW CHALLENGED

A single father of a child born of surrogacy has launched proceedings to have legislation amended to allow him to register the birth of his daughter.

The father of Baby J wanted the Births and Deaths Registration Act declared unconstitutional "insofar as it is inconsistent with the Constitution in failing to regulate the births of children born by surrogacy to single fathers".

A Cape Argus reports says he deposed a notice last week that the application will be brought in the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda). He maintained that legislation should recognise that his daughter was a child born of surrogacy, and not sexual intercourse between a heterosexual couple. The notice cited the Minister and DG of Home Affairs as well as the manager of the department’s Queenstown branch as respondents.