Mother terminates 6-month-old pregnancy after doctors told her she would give birth to a mermaid

A young woman terminated her
pregnancy after six months when
doctors told her she was carrying
a mermaid-like foetus, it has been
reported.


The 23-year-old took the drastic
action after a scan at the Health
Care Center for Women and
Children in Yichang City, in Central
China’s Hubei Province.

Scan showed the foetus had
developed a ‘tail-like growth’ but
no legs. It also did not have a
bladder and had a stunted liver.

Doctors at the hospital told mother
‘Wu’ the foetus was suffering from
a rare condition known as
sirenomelia, or “Mermaid Syndrome”.

It is a rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together,
giving them the appearance of a
mermaid’s tail. Wu decided to terminate her pregnancy after specialists estimated that the baby would only survive for a few hours after birth.

The causes behind Mermaid Syndrome are still a medical mystery and it is said to occur only once in every 100,000 pregnancies.