The parents of sextuplets born in Vancouver are in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday to challenge a decision by the B.C. government to seize their babies and give them blood transfusions.

The sextuplets were born at B.C. Women's Hospital in early January. The parents are Jehovah's Witnesses, and their religion bans transfusions.

Two of the six died before the province seized the remaining babies.

Shane Brady, the lawyer for the family, said the parents had a constitutional right to a hearing before the government seized their children and made the decision to allow them to have the transfusions.

"The family's very upset with what happened," Brady told the Canadian Press in an interview. "They were never given an opportunity to defend themselves."

Brady said he thinks the court should rule that their constitutional rights were violated.

The four surviving babies, two boys and two girls, are healthy. Brady would not elaborate on their condition.

The B.C. Liberal government allowed doctors to perform blood transfusions on three of the children.
 
Control over the medical future of the babies was given back to the parents by the government after they launched court proceedings.

A court hearing was originally scheduled for Feb. 21, but that date was postponed after the B.C. Ministry of Children and Families asked for more time to sift through the volume of information in the case.

The names of the parents and babies are protected by a publication ban.

The babies, born nearly three months before they were due, were believed to weigh only 1.8 pounds each at birth.

With files from the Canadian Press