Parents Release Photo of Twins Born at 24 Weeks to Stop Late-Term Abortions

International   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Aug 29, 2018   |   11:39AM   |   London, England

Two little boy’s miraculous survival has one British family advocating for a change to their country’s abortion laws.

Luci Hall and Joseph Barker, of Leeds, West York, said they cannot understand why England allows unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to 24 weeks, the same point when their twin sons were born, the Daily Mail reports.

Charlie and Harvey Barker arrived after just 24 weeks in the womb in May 2017 and now are thriving at home with their parents.

“Seeing how well they’ve done does make you think about the abortion limit. I’d never even considered it before, I just accepted it,” Luci Hall said. “The thought of anyone getting rid of a baby that late is just awful. When I came home I signed a petition to have it changed.

“Harvey and Charlie are proof that a baby born at 24 weeks can survive,” she continued.

Their family is one of many advocating for a change to the country’s late-term abortion laws. However, the Royal College of Midwives and other wealthy pro-abortion groups are advocating for the opposite – late-term abortions for any reason up to birth, according to the report.

Hall said her pregnancy with the twins, her first, was traumatic. Early in the pregnancy, doctors diagnosed the twins with twin-to-twin transfusion, a condition in which one twin received more blood and nutrients than his brother.

Hall said her water broke at just 20 weeks of pregnancy, but her doctors were able to delay labor for another four weeks. At exactly 24 weeks, she went into labor and gave birth to the twins on May 21, 2017, according to the report.

“When they were born they were both rushed straight to intensive care, I didn’t get to hold them or see them. Joseph just got to quickly take two photos,” she said. “I couldn’t even get upset about not getting to hold them because I was in shock. …

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“We got to see them three hours later and that’s when it really hit us. They were so tiny, you can’t even imagine a baby that small. It was really frightening,” she said.

Doctors warned them that the twins could die. Both weighed a little more than 1 pound, and Hall said her sons were so small that they fit in the palm of her hand.

“Their chances of survival were so slim that we were told to take it hour by hour. They told us not to think about the future because it was so uncertain,” their mother said. “We were so scared thinking about losing one of them or both of them, it was devastating.”

The twins spent about four months in the hospital and were discharged in September, according to the Mirror. However, in October, Harvey was readmitted after he stopped breathing.

Charlie and Harvey now are 15 months old and home with their parents.

“I am the proudest mum in the world and everything we’ve had to go through just makes me appreciate my boys so much more,” their mother said.

Hall and Barker said their sons helped them see how England’s abortion laws devalue the lives of children like Charlie and Harvey. They are not alone.

Parents of premature babies have been calling on their legislators to change abortion laws in the U.S. and England to reflect the new viability lines. Previously, 24 weeks generally was considered the point of viability. Abortions are illegal after 24 weeks in England and in a number of American states.

However, a 2017 Duke University study found babies born at just 23 weeks gestation are surviving outside the womb at a greater rate than ever before. Researchers examined 4,500 babies between 2000 and 2011 and found a “small but significant drop in fatalities for babies born between 23 and 37 weeks gestation,” as well as a decrease in premature babies manifesting with neurophysiological problems, the Daily Mail reported.

In 2017, the journal Pediatrics highlighted a baby girl in the United States who survived after being born 21 weeks and four days after conception. The girl, who now is 3, is believed to be the youngest premature baby to survive.