I read today that Mia Farrow [the actress] told a UNICEF PR person that it is past time to end polio. I thought it is past time to end premature birth.

I was a preemie so I am lucky to be alive. I was born at 25 weeks, weighed 680g. I was in hospital for twelve weeks. I am blind and have developed relatively normally given my condition.

There has been much talk in the media and in the literature about how young such babies should be saved. They can save a photos at 23 weeks. Legally a photos is a living human at 18 weeks in New Zealand.

So, I have been pondering lately what do we do about premature babies? It costs a lot of money and time to treat these babies and they o not always survive. I was lucky — I am blind- but they have not had a case of my condition in a number of years. There are those like me who are relatively normal and there are those, in ever increasing numbers who are impaired so much that they will not be able to function.

I have not yet decided in my own mind what is right. But this is a problem of the developed world.