British baby survives abortion attempt

London, England, Jun 7, 2008 / 14:26 pm

A woman whose child survived an abortion attempt has now welcomed her baby into her life.

Twenty five year-old Jodie Percival’s first son had died of a life-threatening kidney condition. Last year, she became pregnant while on the birth-control pill and she and her fiancé Billy Crampton, 35, decided to abort the child, the Daily Mail says.

“Deciding to terminate at eight weeks was just utterly horrible but I couldn't cope with the anguish of losing another baby,” said Percival, a hairdresser.

Weeks after the attempted abortion, Percival felt a quivering in her stomach. Doctors discovered she was 19 weeks pregnant, the child having survived the abortion.

“I couldn't believe it,” Percival said, according to the Daily Mail. “This was the baby I thought I'd terminated.

“At first I was angry that this was happening to us, that the procedure had failed.”

“I wrote to the hospital, I couldn't believe that they had let me down like this. They wrote back and apologized and said it was very rare.”

Percival carries a gene which triggers a kidney disorder, in which cysts grow on the kidneys of an unborn baby. Her first baby, Thane, was born prematurely and lived only 20 minutes. Her second son, Lewis, is now 20 months old.

Doctors told the couple from Nottinghamshire that the unborn child was likely to survive. Finley Crampton was born three weeks premature, weighing 6 pounds and 3 ounces.

Though he has minor kidney damage, he is expected to live a normal life.

“I still struggle to believe just what he has fought through. Now he's here I wouldn't change it for the world,” she added.