A woman pregnant with conjoined twins who have one body and two heads has been backed by a charity in her decision not to seek an abortion.

Lisa Chamberlain, 25, a Roman Catholic, had a scan last week that showed she was carrying dicephalous embryos.

Miss Chamberlain, from Portsmouth, said that doctors advised her to undergo an abortion but she and her fiancé, Mike Pedace, ruled this out. She said: “To me, my twins are a gift from God and we're determined to give them a chance of life.”

A spokeswoman for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London said that the Siamese twins had a slim chance of survival, particularly if they shared the same heart.

Michaela Aston, of the charity LIFE, which advises about abortion, said: “This young mother knows it will be difficult but she is focusing on the fact that she is already the proud mother of these babies and accepts them however they are.

“They may not be perfect in the eyes of the world but they are fully human and as such should have the same value and right to life as any other human beings.”

Faith and Hope Williams, the last conjoined twins born in the UK, died late last year.

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