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Disclaimer / Limitations
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Does the law provide a definition of fetal death? If yes, does the definition of fetal death accord with international guidelines?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy.
Death of an embryo or fetus may be diagnosed in utero by absence of heart sounds, confirmed by imaging techniques where available, or after the complete expulsion or extraction from a woman by absence of signs of life. Signs of life at birth include breathing, beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord and definite movement of voluntary muscles whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached. Any such signs of life indicate a "live birth" even if that is followed by death very shortly afterwards.
There isn't an explicit definition for foetal death - however, Article 244, refers to foetal death stating that , foetal deaths with a gestational age of 22 weeks or more requires a medical certiificate of death for registration.
Does the law provide a definition of, or criteria for stillbirth? If yes, does the definition of or criteria for stillbirth accord with international guidelines?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
A stillbirth is a sub-category of fetal death, that meets criteria defined by the country. Stillbirth is the complete expulsion or extraction from a woman of a fetus, following its death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction, at 22 or more completed weeks of gestation.
For international reporting it is recommended to report stillbirths of 28 or more completed weeks of gestation (late stillbirth). Countries with ability for reporting stillbirths of 22 or more completed weeks of gestation (early stillbirth) are recommended to do so. When information on gestational age is unavailable for spontaneous abortion or stillbirth, use birthweight less than 500 grams as the criteria.
The law does not define stillbirths. However the implied meaning of foetal death in the Civil Registry Code, aligns with the defintion of stillbirths (as a subset of foetal deaths) within UN guidelines.
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Reporting and recording of stillbirths only has a statistical function. There is no legal or administrative function. In some countries, the process for reporting stillbirths is through the civil registration system, in a similar manner as for reporting and registering births and deaths, so that statistics can be generated via the Vital Statistics procedures. In other countries stillbirth reporting is done only within the health sector. Some countries have a hybrid systems with reporting undertaken through both systems.
Stillbirths are not recorded in the same way as live births. They are refered to as foetal deaths in Article 244 and require a medical certificate of foetal death which must be presented at the civil registry.
