--- title: Premature Babies Can Survive After Only 22 Weeks, Study Says description: A new found that some premature babies can survive outside the womb with medical treatment as early as 22 weeks after pregnancy. canonical: https://time.com/3850097/premature-babies-survival/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-07T12:11:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:00:39.668Z article:section: Health og:title: Premature Babies Can Survive After Only 22 Weeks, Study Says og:description: A new found that some premature babies can survive outside the womb with medical treatment as early as 22 weeks after pregnancy. og:url: https://time.com/3850097/premature-babies-survival/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad18c01e95470fe/6987eebe8e0601bb7045e7ee/premature-baby.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: premature baby og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Premature Babies Can Survive After Only 22 Weeks, Study Says twitter:description: A new found that some premature babies can survive outside the womb with medical treatment as early as 22 weeks after pregnancy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad18c01e95470fe/6987eebe8e0601bb7045e7ee/premature-baby.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Some Premature Babies Can Survive After Only 22 Weeks, Study Says  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 7, 2015 12:11 PM UTC  Baby Ben Baby BenGetty Images  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 7, 2015 12:11 PM UTC A new study has found that some premature babies [can survive outside the womb](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/health/premature-babies-22-weeks-viability-study.html?%5Fr=0) with medical treatment as early as 22 weeks into pregnancy. The study, published on Wednesday in the [_New England Journal of Medicine_](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1410689), raises questions about treatment practices for premature babies while also adding a new layer to the abortion debate. Hospitals vary in how they approach treatment for babies born before 24 weeks, widely viewed to be the minimum age of viability, the New York _Times_ reports. But the study, which analyzed almost 5,000 babies born at between 22 and 27 weeks, found that a small number of babies born at 22 weeks could survive with treatment, some with long-term impairment. Those that were not treated died. Each year, roughly 5,000 babies are born at 22 or 23 weeks in the US, according to the _Times_. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/health/premature-babies-22-weeks-viability-study.html?%5Fr=0)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3850097/premature-babies-survival/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3850097/premature-babies-survival/"},"headline":"Some Premature Babies Can Survive After Only 22 Weeks, Study Says","datePublished":"2015-05-07T12:11:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:00:39.668Z","description":"Roughly 5,000 babies are born at 22 or 23 weeks in the U.S. each year","url":"https://time.com/3850097/premature-babies-survival/","keywords":["Research","abortion","medicine","Pregnancy","birth","Pregnant"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad18c01e95470fe/6987eebe8e0601bb7045e7ee/premature-baby.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad18c01e95470fe/6987eebe8e0601bb7045e7ee/premature-baby.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"premature baby","caption":"premature baby","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3850097/premature-babies-survival/","name":"Some Premature Babies Can Survive After Only 22 Weeks, Study Says"}}]}] ```