A British hospital imposed a news blackout early today on a controversial operation to separate conjoined twins Jodie and Mary which "pro-life" campaigners had earlier pronounced "sad times for English law and English medicine".
Telephone callers to St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, were put through to an answering machine that said: "There will no information released. . . until at least lunch time on Tuesday."
With tragic Mary certain to die as soon as the aorta she shares with her sister is severed during surgery, that means only Jodie can reach her three-month-old landmark tomorrow. While extensive scans and Xrays had been taken in advance, there was uncertainty about the extent of their shared condition as four surgeons, and a 16-strong support team, began the operation.
If she survives surgery, Jodie - whose heart and lungs have kept the twins alive through blood vessels connecting the two girls - faces an uncertain future. Experts have said her post-surgery problems could be functional rather than life-threatening.
Confirming the start of the "complex" procedure soon after 9 a.m. yesterday, officials at St Mary's indicated that no further bulletin would be issued until today, their statement adding: "At this time our thoughts are with the parents and the surgical team."
The parents have maintained a long vigil at their daughters' bedside. Devout Catholics from the island of Gozo, near Malta, they travelled to Britain for the birth of their children at the beginning of August due to a lack of specialist facilities in Malta.
The legal battle to separate the girls to save Jodie's life began soon after, with doctors winning the right to operate in the High Court the same month.
The parents subsequently lost their privately-funded appeal in September. And the way for yesterday's operation was finally cleared last Friday, when the Pro-Life Alliance failed to have the official solicitor, Mr Laurence Oates, replaced as Mary's legal guardian. He gave the go-ahead for the operation.
A spokesman for the alliance said: "Mary's life is being extinguished not because she is a conjoined twin, not because her heart beats inadequately, not because Jodie's life is under threat, but because she is mentally impaired and her life is deemed of no intrinsic value."