Urgent appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.
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5,000 miles from home, premmie leaves hospital after 172 days

A baby born at just 23 weeks, more than 5,000 miles away from home, has finally gone home after 172 days in hospital.

Last October, Afua was in the US for a cousin’s wedding. She was also 23 weeks pregnant and 5,000 miles from her home in Ghana. Only three days into her trip, though, she began to feel unwell and had to be taken to the hospital. To everyone’s astonishment, she was already in labour and had to be transferred to a specialist neonatal care hospital.

When her baby, Akosua, was born, she weighed just 1lb 1oz. Because she was born so prematurely, baby Akosua had to fight to survive from the beginning. But from having pneumonia to being reintubated several times, she never gave up.

“Most of the time, you might have a partner to share this with, but my husband wasn’t around”, Afua said. “To have the nurses and the doctors just hug and say, ‘It will be okay,’ offered so much comfort”.

Even after her husband and toddler made their way to the hospital from the other side of the world, the siblings could not meet as baby Akosua was in isolation. The medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital, Dr Mariam Said, recalled Afua’s family being “a joy” when they came to visit.

“[Afua’s] whole family was just a joy. And one thing I will say about this unit in particular: This becomes a family”.

She added, “Even if you’re not here for 100 days, it really does become a family”.

But baby Akosua was there well over one hundred days, and with a feeding tube fitted, she was finally able to leave the hospital after almost six months.

“It’s a big decision to make. But at the same time, we know developmentally, being home with [her mum] 24/7 is the most beneficial thing”, Dr Said shared. 

A few months later, baby Akosua is a whopping 9 lbs.

“We see lots of 23-week babies, and they don’t all have good outcomes”, said Dr Said. “I mean, she’s a real miracle”.

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Baby Akosua is yet another tiny miracle. Born far too early, but she never gave up. It seems as though stories like this one are becoming more and more common”.

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, after a two-year battle, MPs voted by 286 to 270 to reject the Edwards assisted suicide Bill.

This followed the defeat of the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland by 69 to 57 in March this year.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people over the coming decades.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

A prominent pollster described the campaign against these major attempts to introduce assisted suicide, which brought together people from all walks of life across the UK, as one of the “most successful 21st Century UK social issue campaigns”. You helped make that possible.

WHY WE MUST NOT STOP HERE

What we have achieved together is extraordinary. But we must not rest on our laurels.

Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made clear that it will keep campaigning to legalise assisted suicide. 

We cannot wait until another Bill is brought forward. We need to keep pressing for better care and strengthen the case against legalisation now.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The next phase of our Support Not Suicide campaign will operate across Parliament, media, online and in grassroots communities in every constituency across the United Kingdom.

Our focus now is to build on that momentum from the defeat of these assisted suicide Bills and make these victories last.

We want to build a United Kingdom where assisted suicide is seen as unnecessary – and where legalising it is seen as unthinkable.

The first part of that work is a sustained push for universal access to high-quality palliative, hospice and social care. No one should feel driven towards assisted suicide because they cannot get the care and support they need. 

We have already asked supporters to contact their MPs about improving care. With your help, we will keep that pressure on in every constituency, brief MPs and Peers on gaps in care, and make the case for better provision in the media.

The second part is building on these wins to ensure more MPs and more of the wider public understand the dangers of legalising assisted suicide. We will put evidence of those risks before MPs and Peers. We will work with mainstream journalists to bring the voices of people directly affected, doctors and other experts into the national conversation, and produce clear videos and articles that supporters can share online and in their communities.

Our network of 250,000 supporters covers every constituency in the UK. Thanks to people like you sharing our content, our posts and videos have been viewed more than 100 million times online in the last year. 

We want to utilise that massive reach for this next phase of the campaign.

WE CAN ONLY DO THIS WITH YOUR HELP

The two-year fight to stop these Bills drew heavily on our limited resources.

To replenish those resources and fund the next phase of the Support Not Suicide campaign, we aim to raise at least ÂŁ199,250 by midnight this Sunday (4 October 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can today.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in protecting vulnerable lives. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, ÂŁ1 becomes ÂŁ1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

Will you donate now to help make these victories last and protect vulnerable lives?

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.