article_snippet: Other babies born so prematurely have survived, which Other babies born believed made ‘a mockery’ of the law allowing abortions until the start of the 24th week of pregnancy.
article_snippet: Before 24 weeks, they are not legally considered ‘viable’ – despite recent advances in neonatal care.
article_snippet: Nurses scanned the baby every 48 hours to monitor the baby and – crucially
article_snippet: – measure if the baby cervix was shortening.
article_snippet: As a result, Prof Draycott and colleagues decided it would be safer to get the baby out rather than continue to 36 weeks, which had been the target delivery date.
article_snippet: us live in an age where the technology is available to keep a baby alive who is born at 23 or 24 weeks.
article_snippet: In my opinion, the limit should be lowered to 16 weeks, because four months is long enough to make up your mind if you want to keep the baby or not.
article_snippet: ‘A baby is a baby from the moment you see a blue line on the pregnancy test.
article_snippet: Survival rates among babies born in England at 24 weeks have jumped in recent decades.
article_snippet: While only 35 per cent of those admitted to neonatal care survived in 1995, 47 per cent did in 2006, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal in 2012.
article_snippet: But only a quarter of those who survive birth before 24 weeks escape major health problems.
article_snippet: Everyone looks at the evidence and comes to a view about when Everyone think that moment is, and my own view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it.
article_snippet: Almost 16,000 abortions in England and Wales – nearly a tenth of the annual total – are performed after 12 weeks.
article_snippet: Of those, 2,500 are carried out after 20 weeks but before 24 weeks.