One in 30 Aborted Babies Lives
One in 30 babies aborted for medical reasons is born alive, a 10-year study at 20 UK hospitals has found. Most of these babies with disabilities were born between 20 and 24 weeks of pregnancy and all lived for no more than a few hours. Anti-abortion campaigners said the figures in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology study were likely to be the tip of the iceberg. But abortion experts said such incidents were extremely rare.
About 190,000 abortions. nearly a quarter of all pregnancies, take place annually in England and Wales. Most abortions are carried out on "healthy" babies for social reasons. The study, however, looked at the outcomes of 3,189 abortions performed between 1995 and 2004 because the baby had a disability of some kind. It showed that 102 - or around one in 30 - were born alive.
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Julia Millington of the pro-life group Alive and Kicking Campaign said the rates found at West Midlands hospitals studied were likely to be mirrored elsewhere in the UK. She explained: "If 102 out of 3,189 babies aborted for reasons of impairment are born alive, then how many healthy babies must be surviving? It is difficult to comprehend the number of babies, throughout the country, left fighting for their lives."
Abortion is allowed in Britain up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Beyond this, a termination is only sanctioned if the baby has a severe disability or if the mother's life is at risk. Usually, the baby will not survive the procedure. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' 1996 guidance on termination of pregnancy for foetal abnormality say a legal abortion must not be allowed to result in a live birth. Guidelines say that doctors should ensure that the drugs they use for the termination also prevent such babies being alive at birth.
Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, stressed that termination due to a diagnosis of a severe or life-threatening disability in the foetus was rare. "It would be wrong to imply from this retrospective study, that if women undergo a medical induction abortion at under 24 weeks' gestation for reasons aside from foetal abnormality, that this is at all likely to result in a live birth. Doctors working in abortion care have for some years now followed the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist's guidance, that the foetal heart is stopped before a medical induction abortion around 22 weeks' gestation."
She added: "To end a wanted pregnancy because of severe foetal impairment is, understandably, a very difficult choice for women and couples."
The charity Antenatal results and Choices has a helpline for people who need support around issues of antenatal testing and diagnosis of foetal abnormality - 020 7631 0285.
April 2007
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