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“Non-viable” Baby Girl Survives Birth at 21 Weeks, Weighing Under 10oz

Case reinforces arguments against gestational abortion laws

By Gudrun Schultz

MIAMI, Florida, February 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A tiny baby girl born at just over five months has defied medical expectations by surviving, in a case that reinforces arguments against gestational abortion laws, the Daily Mail reported earlier today.

Amillia Taylor was born at a Miami hospital one month earlier than the date considered viable for most babies, at just 21 weeks and six days gestation. She weighed less than 10 oz and was just nine ½ inches long.

Babies born earlier than 25 weeks are generally classed as medically “non-viable,” while just half of the babies born at 25 weeks manage to survive. Abortion legislation often relies on that cut-off to determine when abortions can no longer be carried out, with the procedure commonly permitted up to the 24th week.

Amillia is the youngest known baby worldwide to survive premature birth, although medical advancements continue to improve the chances of early survival for infants who leave the womb ahead of schedule.

The survival of such a young baby undermines justification of later-term abortions considered acceptable because the child is too immature to survive outside the womb. As well, improvements in preterm care have led to difficult questions about the treatment of late-term babies who survive abortion attempts, since there is often no difference in the physical development of a child born alive after an abortion attempt and a child born early through premature delivery.

Amillia was unusually strong at birth and responded well to treatment. The Daily Mail reported that the child even underwent plastic surgery during her two months in an incubator to repair damage to her ear, inflicted during delivery by caesarean section.

Her parents, Sonya and Eddie Taylor, conceived the baby girl through IVF procedures. Sonya Taylor was 37 at the time of Amillia’s birth.

Four months later and weighing four lbs, the baby has gained enough weight to go home with her family.

link to video coverage:
http://www.nbc6.net/health/11056409/detail.html

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

IVF Twins More Likely to be Premature, Delivered by C-Section
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05072906.html

British Study Says Premature Babies Feel Pain
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06040503.html

British Medical Association to Discuss the Fate of Late-term Abortion Survivors
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04062208.html

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