Concourt Ruling on Section 40 of the Children’s Act

The Constitutional Court has declared Section 40 of Childrens' Act invalid and unconstitutional. The section that deals with the rights of the child conceived by way of artificial fertilisation, only provides for married or unmarried couples but not same-sex marriages. Prior to this ruling, the law did not provide for a situation where two women in a committed relationship conceive a child. Last year, a lesbian couple faced with this problem approached the apex court to challenge the Act.