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- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday January 31 2001 13.29 GMT
A major US TV network is hoping to make broadcasting history by screening the first live childbirth next week.
The move pushes the boundaries of reality TV to a new limit.
ABC has persuaded three US hospitals to allow cameras into their delivery rooms next Tuesday morning.
The producers of ABC show Good Morning America are hoping they will be able to televise several deliveries during the two-hour slot.
To be sure of success, the producers have chosen to conduct the broadcast on a Tuesday, the day of the week when women are statistically most likely to give birth.
One of the three hospitals involved in the project, Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, has the highest number of births in the US, according to ABC.
ABC originally hoped to broadcast the deliveries in November. However, the broadcasts were postponed because of the extended coverage of the presidential election.
Seven mothers gave birth during the slot originally scheduled for the November broadcast.
