BABIES born alive after an attempted abortion should be given the same care and treatment as other infants, doctors say.
The British Medical Association's annual conference in Llandudno, heard that there were cases of babies surviving after a termination and then being left to die.
Delegates voted by a majority of 65% that these infants should receive the same treat-ment as other babies.
Michael Wilks, chairman of the BMA's ethics committee, said guidelines already existed which said these infants should receive care and attention.
But he said he welcomed the vote as restating good practice.
Proposing the motion, medical student Ibukumoluwago Adedugbe said it was not about the rights and wrongs of abortion, but what happened when the procedure did not work and the child was born alive.
"In case law a child is considered to be alive if after its birth it could breathe and sustain life through the use of its own lungs, obviously with adequate ventilation and life support.
"If the child is alive then surely it has rights," she said.
The student, from Imperial College London, said that a baby born alive after an abortion was in some ways similar to a premature baby.
She cited the case of a baby who lived unsustained by life support for three days.
"Anyone who has been near a screaming baby or heard a baby gasp for breath must realise this must have been traumatic for the healthcare professionals involved - that is to find themselves having to ignore this for three days," she said.
Abortion is legal up to nine months if it is feared that the life of mother or baby may be at risk. Figures show that in 2002 there were 114 babies aborted at 24 weeks or more.
Speaking against the motion, Andrew Thomson, a GP registrar from Angus, Scotland, said that late abortions were "extremely traumatic" for patients.
