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Baby born at 23 weeks survives 6 hours in morgue refrigerator

A premature baby has been found alive after being in a morgue refrigerator for 6 hours. 

The unnamed baby was born at just 23 weeks at La Margarita hospital in the city of Puebla in Mexico.  

Shortly after its delivery at 4.29am on 21 October, the baby was declared dead after doctors could find no vital signs and moved to the hospital’s morgue.  

When undertakers arrived at the morgue to retrieve the body shortly after 10 am, however, they realised the baby was still alive. 

The owner of the funeral home that sent the undertakers, Miguel Angel Flores, told reporters,When we arrived we realised it was crying and moving. We called the father over and he also saw it was crying and so we got the doctor who had signed the death certificate to come urgently.

“The baby was born just after 4am and was found alive around 10am so that’s nearly six hours that it was in the morgue refrigerator.

“I can’t understand how he didn’t die while he was there. The fridge it was in is normally used to keep the limbs of amputees. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.

The father, who had accompanied the undertakers, immediately began comforting the child, saying, “Here I am. Carry on fighting, little one, resist my love. The boy’s crying, he’s still crying, he’s alive. Poor boy, carrying on fighting tiny one. Please God, accompany this little one, stay with him because he’s still alive.

The baby immediately received medical attention and is now under strict observation in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. 

The IMMS, a governmental organisation that forms part of Mexico’s health system, confirmed that the case is being investigated.

New guidance

This baby’s story is just one of many in recent years that highlights how premature babies are more likely than ever before to survive. 

The survival rate for extremely premature babies has doubled over the past decade, prompting the creation of new guidance allowing doctors to try to save babies born as early as 22 weeks into a pregnancy.

In 2008 only two out of ten babies born alive at 23 weeks went on to survive. Today it is four out of ten, according to the British Association of Perinatal Medicine.

Once a baby passes 22 weeks, the chances of survival increase week-by-week due to technical advances, better healthcare planning and the increased use of steroids.

The increased survival rates have prompted calls to review the current law in order to help lower abortion numbers and save the lives of babies.

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Dear reader,

Despite the Leadbeater assisted-suicide Bill passing its Third Reading on 20 June, it scraped through by just 23 votes (314-291) after enjoying a 55-vote majority at Second Reading. Had 12 more MPs switched sides, the Bill would be dead. It now limps into the Lords with a wafer-thin majority, where peers can amend, delay or reject it outright.

THE CHALLENGE

Dignity in Dying, My Death My Decision and Humanists UK have poured millions into pushing assisted suicide and will fight hard to stop the Lords overturning the Bill.

At the same time, the Antoniazzi abortion-up-to-birth amendment, passed by MPs in June, also heads to the Lords. If it becomes law, it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason – including sex-selective purposes – and at any point up to and during birth.

We will be up against the UK’s largest abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes), who are expected to push for even more extreme changes to our abortion laws in the Lords.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Thousands of vulnerable lives are now at stake. Battling these two threats is the biggest and most expensive effort in our history, and has drained our limited resources. To fight effectively on both fronts, we aim to raise £200,000 by midnight this Sunday (13 July 2025).

Every donation, large or small, will help protect lives, and UK taxpayers can add 25p to every £1 through Gift Aid at no extra cost.

Will you make a donation now to help protect vulnerable lives from these major threats?

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to protect vulnerable lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help fight major assisted suicide and abortion up to birth threats.