A girl born two days after the abortion limit is now flourishing and attending primary school.

Francesca Bradley-Curran was born after 24 weeks and 2 days’ gestation. Weighing only 1lb 6oz, her feet were only slightly bigger than a penny. Doctors told her parents, Victoria Bradley and Paul Curran, that even if their daughter did survive, she would never be able to walk or talk.

But over halfway through her first year in primary school, four-year-old Francesca has defied all expectations.

‘Doctors told us even if she did survive she would never walk or talk, but now we can’t get her to sit still or be quiet’

Her mum Victoria said: ““From the minute she opens her eyes she’s a constant ball of energy.”

“It’s crazy to think that the doctors told us even if she did survive she would never walk or talk, but now we can’t get her to sit still or be quiet.”

“When I talk to other premature baby mums their children are all still really small but Francesca wears aged 6-8 clothes and she has perfect vision.”

“She battled meningitis, pneumonia, three bouts of sepsis, two collapsed lungs, acute kidney injury and had 16 blood transfusions and laser eye surgery before she left hospital.”

In 2017, Francesca hit headlines after her parents took a photograph of a penny next to her feet, which were the same size as the 20 millimetre coin.

“Every day I look at her and think she is my walking, talking miracle”

Now her daughter is old enough, Victoria has started to show her some videos of when she was a baby.

“She realise[d] that she was very ill and very small,” she said.

“She saw another video where someone called her the baby with the penny-sized feet and she asked me ‘why do they think I have penny feet’.

“I explained that we had put a penny next to her feet when she was born and she decided to lay down next to one and I think it made her realise just how small she really was.”

“Even I struggle to remember just how tiny she was.”

Born before the abortion limit

Developments in medical technology mean that more and more prematurely born babies are able to survive. In October 2020 a baby was born in Scotland almost 2 weeks below the abortion limit who went on to survive. Sofia Viktoria Birina weighed only 500g and last month was sent home with her parents.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “The number of babies born just after and shortly before the legal abortion limit in the UK is increasing all the time”. 

“This story highlights a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive before 24 weeks whilst in another room a doctor could perform an abortion which would end the life of a baby at the same age. Surely this contradiction needs to end?”

“Independent polling from Savanta ComRes shows that 70% of women in the UK want to see the time limit for abortion reduced to 20 weeks or below. Our current abortion time limit is way out of line with the rest of Europe where the most common abortion time limit is 12 weeks”.

“Babies such as Francesca and Sofia are living proof of this unjust law, which would allow babies at a very similar gestation to be aborted if they are inside the womb but provided with proper medical care if outside of the womb”.

“This story further adds to the need for Parliament to urgently review our current abortion time limit. We support any change in law that would help lower abortion numbers and save the lives of babies in the womb”. 

“It’s time that our laws were brought into line with public opinion, modern science and the rest of Europe”.