Anita Hyams gave birth to her third child just twenty-three weeks and five days into her pregnancy, i.e. two days before the end of the UK legal abortion deadline. He weighed only 567 g. Little William breathed as soon as he was born before being quickly placed on oxygen. After several months in an intensive care unit, William has returned home with his parents. He is now a sixteen month-old little boy in good health.
“I was only 23 weeks pregnant when I went into labour and I knew that people could have abortions up to 24 weeks”. She says that discovering her little boy “was like looking at a little miracle. He was fully formed, […] All his fingers and toes were there, he was just like a miniature version of a baby […], he was so tiny, just the size of [her] hand”. And yet “People have abortions at 24 weeks and yet look at William, he is alive and kicking and a fully formed baby”.
As far as the mother is concerned, “After my experience, I think the abortion limit should be lower, or at least the limit should be lowered” to 22 weeks.
Mirror, Rosa McMahon (15/10/2018)