There’s a misconception that babies born before 24 weeks have no chance of survival. This idea is so engrained in our minds that in many cases doctors won’t even help a baby who is born before that point. Even some pro-choicers will argue that abortion is only okay up until that magic moment of viability.
But premature babies are proving them wrong by surviving and thriving, not only at 25 weeks, but as young as 21 weeks. As science and technology progress, that age could become even younger.
Amillia Taylor
Amillia Taylor’s tiny feet.
Amillia Taylor was born at 21 weeks, 6 days gestation, and doctors helped her to survive. Her mother, Sonja, had lied to doctors, knowing that if they knew the real age of her daughter, they would likely let her die.
So she told doctors that she was 23 weeks and 6 days, asking them if they would help her daughter even though she was one day shy of the age of viability. Doctors said they would. It wasn’t until later that she admitted how young her daughter really was.
Amillia weighed just 10 ounces and was only 9.5 inches long, just slightly longer than a pen. Her skin was translucent, and she was kept in bubble wrap inside her incubator to keep her body temperature up. Amillia spent 4 months in the neonatal intensive care unit before finally going home.
Naomi Joy Bakker
The first photo taken of Naomi on the day of her birth.
Michael and Angela Bakker were told at about 23 weeks gestation that their baby girl was not going to survive. She had been diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction and the couple was advised to abort.
Naomi and her mother. Emily Loftus Photography.
“There were four hours left until the abortion cut off,” explained Mrs. Bakker, who was 23 weeks and 6 days pregnant. “But they told us that in cases like ours, they make exceptions. They said, ‘The law doesn’t even apply to you. That’s how bad your case is.’ She started kicking, and I thought, that’s her little voice. That’s all she can say.”
Naomi holding her father’s finger.
Naomi was born at just 25 weeks gestation, but she was the size of a 19-week preborn child. She weighed just 364 grams and her eyes were still fused shut. Doctors promised the Bakkers they would try to help their daughter, however they were convinced that the breathing tube she would need would never fit down her tiny throat. But it did.
Naomi’s father comforts her. Emily Loftus Photography.
Naomi is now five months old, and while she still uses oxygen and is monitored carefully, she is doing well for a child who wasn’t supposed to live at all outside the womb.
Ward Miller
Ward and his mother.
Baby Ward was born 15 weeks early at 25 weeks gestation. He weighed just one pound, 13 ounces, and remained in the hospital for 107 days. Brain scans revealed serious brain bleeding, and his parents and doctors were scared for his life.
Just to give you an idea of how small my little guy is… A photo posted by Benjamin (@3enjamin5cot) on
“The bleeds could lead to severe problems down the road,” Miller shared with MailOnline. “He may not be able to walk. He may have cerebral palsy. He may be mentally handicapped. The list goes on and on.”
1st time I was able to hold my son. Proud daddy. A photo posted by Benjamin (@3enjamin5cot) on
The brain bleeds stopped, and today Ward is a happy and healthy two-year-old boy.
E’Layah Pegues
https://twitter.com/LevineChildrens/status/697179412765102080/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Baby E’Layah was born at 24 weeks gestation in September 2015. Her mother was suffering from extremely high blood pressure and E’Layah had stopped moving. Doctors performed an emergency C-section to save both mother and child.
E’Layah weighed just 10 ounces at birth and doctors weren’t sure if she would survive. However, her mother never lost faith or hope, and E’Layah proved to be a fighter. She has overcome numerous health complications, and in February 2016, E’Layah finally left the hospital to go home with her parents.
“She has grown, and she has been able to breathe on her own and she looks around. She pays attention to her surroundings, she knows her mom’s voice, she knows her dad’s voice… and I’m amazed she has come this far,” Dr. Jessica Clark-Pounder of Levine Children’s Hospital told CBS News.
E’Layah’s mother Megan Smith is excited to bring her daughter home and see what the future holds. Doctors have said E’Layah should live a normal, healthy life.
It’s estimated that about 9,000 abortions occur each year during the third trimester, but that number is completely unreliable in large part due to doctors like Kermit Gosnell who have performed hundreds of late-term abortions, even murdering babies who survived those abortions.
Abortionist Dr. Susan Robinson has also admitted that many late-term abortions are performed because of financial concerns, not health concerns, as abortion advocates claim, and that the babies in those cases are indeed viable.
In a 1995 speech at a National Abortion Federation Convention, George Tiller, the late abortionist who was murdered, also admitted to aborting late-term, healthy children.
“We have some experience with later terminations; about 10,000 patients between 24 and 36 weeks and something like 800 fetal anomalies between 26 and 36 weeks in the past five years,” he said.
That means the overwhelming majority are healthy in just his experience alone.
Yet, while abortionists admit to aborting health third trimester babies and falsifying the paperwork, many Americans still believe that late-term abortions are only happening to unhealthy children and that this somehow makes it okay.
Every day, babies at the same stage of development as Amillia, Naomi, and Ward are aborted despite the fact that they could have survived outside the womb at time of their deliberate deaths.
