The mother of a little girl who was born at 23 weeks gestation, one week before the legal abortion limit in the UK, is calling on the British government to lower the limit for abortion to 10 weeks.
“I think the abortion limit should be significantly lowered to 10 weeks unless there is a medical reason as to why it’s later,” Vicky Jackson told the Newcastle Chronicle.
Her daughter Bella was born almost four months before her due date, and weighed just over one pound.
“Bella is living proof that babies can survive at 23 weeks old,” Vicky said. “Perhaps 10 years ago it was completely different because there was not the medical advances that there are now to keep such premature babies alive, but things have moved on.”
“I know people whose babies were born at 23 weeks and their children are now going to school, so it shows that in this day and age babies can survive,” she said.
Bella had a twin sister, whom the parents named Sophia, who did not survive birth, but Vicky said that Bella was born breathing on her own. She was immediately taken to the Special Care Baby Unit at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary where she will be cared for until she can go home.
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Two weeks of hoping their daughter would pull through elapsed before Bella's mom and father, Graeme Davison, would be able to hold their child.
“It was extremely frightening, she was so tiny, her skin was transparent and I had to make sure I kept the ventilators straight in her little mouth. She felt as if she weighed nothing, but it was the best day of my life,” Vicky recalled.
During their daily visits, Vicky and Graeme began a Facebook page, The Beautiful Bella, to keep family and friends updated on the progress of their daughter.
The parents were amazed that the page began being visited by many others who had similar experiences and messages of support began pouring in from around the world.
“Some of the messages we get from people around the world are really inspirational. Some of them are from people who have been or are going through similar situations,” said Graeme.
Graeme also anticipates that their account of Bella's progress may help raise funds for the Tiny Lives Trust, the charity that supports the babies and their families at Royal Victoria Infirmary's Special Care Baby Unit.
The couple hopes that sharing their story will reignite debate over the 24-week “viability” benchmark for unrestricted abortions and focus attention on the medical advances that, as British Conservative MP Fiona Bruce remarked recently, make this criterion “out of date.”
In a letter published on Breitbart Bruce argued, “Viability is not really a measure of the value of an unborn child, but a measure of the current state of medical knowledge, skill and technology.”
“The idea that the right to life is dependent on an unborn child’s ‘viability’ runs into all sorts of problems when subjected to a little critical thought,” Bruce said.
Bella's Facebook page has a link to a petition asking the UK Department of Health to “lower the currents limits for abortion and change the terminology used from late miscarriage to still birth.”