A report has revealed that in one year alone as many as 66 babies were born alive after abortions carried out on their mothers, before dying as a result of the procedure.

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health, a government agency, has launched its report detailing stillbirths and neonatal deaths in 2005.

The report indicates that in one year alone an alarmingly high number of babies were born alive after abortions. The report also does not include data relating to aborted babies who were born alive but did not die.

This report comes less than a week after the BJOG, a journal of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, published a paper indicating that live births after abortion have occurred in 18 out of 20 maternity units in the West Midlands.

"It is impossible for anybody to remain unmoved by reports that, in 2005 alone, 66 babies fought for their lives after attempts to abort them," said Julia Millington of the Alive and Kicking Campaign. "It moves the abortion debate beyond abstract arguments into the world of human reality.

"Our opponents are always quick to remind us that women need access to late abortion. But we are confident that our nation does not support the perverse mentality of those who campaign for abortion to be available 'as early as possible and as late as necessary'.

"Public support for a reduction in the upper time limit for abortion has never been greater and we urge the government to respond to calls for a review of our abortion law."