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Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has asked the government to review the current in England, Scotland and Wales. The Cardinal, of course, is opposed to abortion in practically all circumstances, but he believes a lowering of the 24-week limit would be a step in the right direction. He would like to see a joint committee of parliament hear scientific evidence since, he argues, technological advances mean that some foetuses born before 24 weeks gestation can survive.

I invited Professor to join our discussion this morning on Sunday Sequence because he is precisely the kind of expert that commitee would wish to take evidence from. He is a distinguished neonatal pediatrician at .

The key concept in this discussion of upper limits for abortion is that of 'viability' -- the point at which a foetus can survive independently of the mother with the assistance of available medical technology. Viability is not a fixed point; it is technologically constrained and, as technology advances, we may expect that foetuses will be able to survive earlier and earlier. Why is this important for discussions of the ethics of abortion? Simply because many people take the view it is difficult to justify an abortion in cases where a foetus can survive removal from the womb; though there are obviously some who defend terminations even in .

John Wyatt made some fascinating observations in today's programme, in conversation with the Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris (who called for a review of abortion time limits ).

Perhaps most significantly for the current debate, he argued that it is rare, in his experience, that a foetus of 23 weeks gestation can survive -- and this at one of the most advanced neonatal teaching centres in the world. The last year voted against calling for a lowering of the 24-week limit; one can understand their reasoning on the basis of John Wyatt's contribution today.