An 18-year-old girl is set to become the youngest mother of conjoined twins in Britain. The teenager has defied doctors’ advice to have the twins aborted.

Laura Williams, 18, has already chosen the names Faith and Hope for the twins, who are due to be born this week.

The girls are joined from the breastbone to the belly button and have separate hearts but scans have not shown exactly what organs they share, a vital factor in their chances of survival.

Laura and her husband Aled, 28, were married in September and already have an 18-month old daughter. The couple first learnt of their babies’ condition when Laura went for a scan 12 weeks into the pregnancy.

The doctor told the couple, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, that they were having twins but that there was also “bad news”.

Aled, a binman, told the Mail on Sunday: “Laura burst into tears and I felt as if someone had punched me in the face and stabbed me in the heart at the same time.”

The couple say they were urged by a doctor at Royal Shrewsbury hospital to seek an abortion.

Laura said: “He said I’d be better to get rid of them, that I would probably lose them by 14 weeks and if they lasted any longer it could cause all sorts of complications and I could end up having to have a hysterectomy.

The Williamses say they were aware of the risks but decided to press ahead with the pregnancy. They have devoted themselves to learning as much as they can about the condition.

Laura said: “I saw a book and it called them monsters.

“I was so worried that’s what people called them, but after the initial shock had worn off we both decided to face this straight on.

“We come from a family of fighters and just decided to got for it.”

The babies are due to be born at Birmingham women’s hospital. After they are born by caesarean section, the babies will be transferred either to the nearby children’s hospital or to Great Ormond Street hospital in London, where surgeons will attempt to separate them.

The difficulty of the operation will depend on how many vital organs they share.

It is reported that they may have their own hearts and spinal cords. This may mean, however, that they share other organs, such as the liver and a digestive tract. Conjoined twins have an overall survival rate of about 25%.

The prevalence of conjoined twins is greater in Africa and parts of southeast Asia. In Britain, an average of one such set of twins is born each year.

The first Siamese twins to be successfully separated in Britain were Anna and Barbara Rozycki in 1970, again at Birmingham children’s hospital.

The world’s oldest conjoined siblings are believed to be Ronnie and Donnie Galyon, 57, of Ohio. They were never separated.

Aled said: “Most people her age want to go out drinking and having fun but Laura’s always said she wanted children. At the end of the day, they’re still our children no matter what the outcome.”

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