Last Wednesday, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study on the viability of premature babies. It found that hospitals that make the effort have effectively reduced the term of fetal viability.

There was once a time when babies born prematurely at 23 weeks of pregancy were considered dead on arrival. But with ever-improving medical techniques, they can sometimes now be saved at 22 weeks with the right sort of intervention, and may not even suffer health problems later. Some doctors are calling this a new potential point of viability.