UK media drawn to focus on pro-life issues

Pro-life issues were brought vividly into focus in the UK's mainstream media today with two major stories - one concerning a healthy baby born at 25 weeks, hours before it was due to be aborted, and another in which images show an unborn baby 'walking' at 12 weeks. The Sunday Times broke the news yesterday of the 25-week-old baby boy born at St Hellier's hospital in Surrey hospital. His mother had been given drugs to induce premature labour and was due to return to Guy's hospital to receive an injection to kill the baby when she gave birth to a live child. According to the report the baby, who was born in April, has done very well and is now near the age at which he would have been delivered at full term. A spokeswoman for LIFE said: "The hospital where the abortion was began are suggesting that the baby was thought to be seriously disabled and (alternatively) that the pregnancy was threatening the mother's life. In either case the Abortion Act would have allowed the doctors to kill up to 40 weeks. Expressing grave concern at the 'unsatisfactory' explanation as to why the abortion had been scheduled in the first place, and its legality, she said: " It is difficult to think of any serious threat to the mother at 25 weeks gestation. It there was one, and if abortion had not been intended, i.e. if the baby had been wanted, why did the doctors not simply induce a premature birth? They must have known that at 25 weeks the baby stood a very good chance of surviving - and to make sure they could probably have kept the pregnancy going for a week or two longer. "This is a horrifying story, even though it has a happy outcome, and should be investigated by the authorities." Tonight's Evening Standard carries exclusive images by obstetrician Professor Stuart Campbell of an unborn baby in the womb - 'walking' at 12 weeks, (weighing 12 grammes), opening it's eyes at 15 weeks (weighing 150 grammes) - all well within the time abortions are legally carried out. In the UK most abortions can take place up to 24 weeks. Until now doctor believed a baby did not open its eyes until 26 weeks. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has welcomed the pictures. John Smeaton, SPUC's National Director, said: "These pictures are a wonderful reminder of the fact that the unborn child is a living human being. These pictures are of babies as young as 12 weeks' gestation, the age at which a large percentage of abortions are carried out in this country. Tragically, unborn children such as these are killed at a rate of one every three minutes. We hope and pray though that many lives will be saved by these awe-inspiring pictures. We challenge abortion providers, in the interests of informed consent, to show these pictures to women seeking abortion. "However, it is essential that legislative proposals aimed at changing the abortion law are not put to this the most anti-life parliament in history because we are certain that a majority of MPs would vote to make abortion even more widely available."