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New Study Finds Some Late-Term Abortion Babies Born Live at Only 18 Weeks

MANCHESTER, August 8, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - UK law allows abortion on demand up to the age of 24 weeks.  This despite the general consensus that children born prematurely, after 22 weeks gestation, are viable and often survive. New evidence reveals that many children aborted at even 18 weeks are born alive - with some even crying.

This reality begs the question from the so-called doctor, intent on killing the child, as to what to do when a baby is born alive, especially after 22 weeks. So far, the children born alive are left to their own until they in time succumb to neglect, some surviving up to four and a half hours.

Pro-life groups maintain that the findings of Dr. Shantala Vadeyar, a researcher at Manchester's St. Mary's Hospital, should compel UK lawmakers to lower the upper age limit for abortion. Although there are no official records of the number of aborted children who are born alive, Vadeyar revealed that the UK's North-West saw 31 cases between 1996 and 2001 alone.

Dr. Vadeyar's research, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, revealed that more than half were under 22 weeks, with some as young as 18 weeks. Of the 31, 14 had only a heartbeat, while four had regular breathing. Two babies gasped, while two others cried.

"I know of obstetricians who have been doing abortions for many years who have broken down saying they cannot carry on any more," said Dr. Trevor Stammers, a senior lecturer at St. George's University Hospital in London, describing the effect that a baby born live has on an abortionist. "Despite all attempts at emotional neutrality, the heart does not work that way when you get a baby in front of you that colleagues on another floor of the same building would be trying to keep alive."

UK's Pro life charity Life spokesman Jane Ingram argued that the 31 instances in the North-West must be a small number compared to the overall incidence throughout the UK. "What was done to help these babies during this time?" she asked. "I hope that at the very least they were given appropriate pain relief and palliative care."

"This research shows that there must be an urgent review of the abortion laws," emphasized Fiona Pinto of the Pro-Life Alliance. "I do not think feticide is acceptable to people in this country. I do not think people even know it happens. I do not think it is enough to rely on midwives and doctors to regulate this themselves."

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Babies that Survive Abortion 'Deserve Life' Says British Medical Association
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jul/04070605.html

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