Womb with a view! Breathtaking new 20-week MRI scan lets expectant parents watch their unborn babies wiggle, swallow and even pull on umbilical cord

Parents-to-be could soon be able to watch their unborn bundles of joy stretching, wiggling and even swallowing while in the womb thanks to a revolutionary new MRI scan.

Expectant parents have had to be content with grainy ultrasound images but a leap in technology means the pioneering scan can even show high quality clear images of a 20-week-old baby's heart, about the size of a one pence piece, thumping - and how a hefty kick ripples through a mother-to-be's tummy, the Daily Mail reports.

The £10million development by a London-based team of medics of the new-style scan offers a glimpse of how all mothers might view their babies in the not too distant future. 

The incredible detail reveals just how fully formed a foetus is at 20 weeks and reignites the debate on lowering the current 24 week legal abortion limit in the UK. 

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has previously supported slashing the limit to 12 weeks and there have also been calls to reduce it to 20 weeks.

A short video, created by the iFIND project, shows a 24-second scan of a 20-week-old baby and exactly what they get up to while in utero.