Only hours left of the appeal to help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.
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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”.

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Only hours left of the appeal to 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 £199,250 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, £1 becomes £1.25 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.

Only hours left of the appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.