Couple Celebrate First Birthday of ‘Non-Viable’ Baby they Were Urged to Abort

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Reuters

A couple who were urged to abort their ‘non-viable’ baby have now celebrated his first birthday. Jett Morris survived five weeks in his mother’s womb after her waters broke prematurely when she was 20 weeks pregnant. He was born weighing only 1lb 4oz, but has now grown into a healthy toddler.

However, his parents Mhairi and Paul say their son would not be alive today if they had given in to pressure from staff at East Surrey Hospital, who they claim gave them just five minutes to decide on a termination. They claim medical staff even wheeled out a trolley to take Mrs Morris to the operating theatre for the procedure before she refused.

Mrs Morris told the Times: “They didn’t see him as a child yet, they just called him a ‘non-viable foetus’. It was cold and I was devastated.

“I was in the early pregnancy unit and no one from paediatrics came to talk to me about my other options. The doctor said: ‘You have to have a termination because there’s nothing we can do’.”

She added that she faced repeated calls from medical staff to have an abortion when she suffered premature rupture of membranes. Doctors diagnosed placenta praevia, in which the placenta causes bleeding and infection after forming under the baby.

She was told that she was likely to go into labour within 48 hours and the baby would die, but Jett was born safely five weeks later. Although he had severe lung disease and jaundice, he soon recovered once his organs had developed.

Mrs Morris said: “We have a happy outcome but I worry that other mothers could have had an abortion when their babies might have survived.”

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