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Premature baby born at only 22 weeks “a fighter” after almost five months in hospital

A baby boy who spent an incredible 134 days in hospital after being born weighing only 1lb 1oz when he was born at only 22 weeks gestation has finally gone home.

Baby Aaron was born when his mother, Thelma Hernandez, was only 22 weeks pregnant, and had to be sent straight to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Even though the odds were against him, over 19 weeks later, the family received the good news that Aaron was finally able to go home.

“I was like, in shock”, Thelma said. “For a few days I couldn’t believe it”. 

After such a long time in the NICU, which Thelma described as “really hard”, she expected baby Aaron to have to come home with oxygen and a feeding tube, as he was intubated and unable to eat. Fortunately, this was not the case. 

“He’s really strong”, she said. “It is a really big achievement to bring him home after all these months”.

Once Aaron was home, the family wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. “We just stayed with him all day. I couldn’t believe I had him here”, Thelma said about baby Aaron’s first day at home. She held him for three to four hours in the morning, and then another four hours in the afternoon, as nurses told her that this contact with her baby would help him feel better.

Nurses treated baby Aaron like he was their “family”

Thelma has expressed her gratitude to the team that cared for Aaron in the NICU, saying that some of them “even changed their shifts just to be there when he needed surgery”. 

The children’s hospital threw a graduation-themed party for Aaron when it was time to leave the NICU, giving him a little cap and gown to be photographed in. Some nurses who were not working that day even came to celebrate baby Aaron leaving the NICU, with Thelma saying that they treated him “like if it was their family”. 

Improved survival rates for extremely premature babies

The survival rates for extremely premature babies like Aaron have significantly improved in recent decades. A 2008 study looking at survival rates for a neonatal intensive care unit in London found that neonatal survival rates at 22 and 23 weeks gestation had improved over time. In 1981-85, no babies who were born at these gestational ages survived to discharge. However, by 1986-90, 19% did and this increased to 54% in the period 1996-2000.

In the decade to 2019 alone, the survival rate for extremely premature babies born at 23 weeks doubled, prompting new guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) that enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks gestation. The previous clinical guidance, drafted in 2008, set the standard that babies who were born before 23 weeks gestation should not be resuscitated.

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is wonderful to hear this heartwarming story of how baby Aaron is such a fighter and made it home after nearly five months in the NICU. As the likelihood of survival for babies like Aaron, who were born below the current UK abortion limit, increases, this poses a direct challenge to the abortion law in Britain, which permits abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy”.

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Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session began on Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which begins this Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

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

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

EMERGENCY
APPEAL
to SAVE
lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.