An American mother says she has decided to carry her terminally-ill baby daughter to full term - knowing the child will live only a few hours - so that her organs can be donated to those who need them.

Keri Young and her husband Royce went for an ultra-sound scan at 19 weeks to find out their baby’s sex but were devastated to learn that the child had a terminal condition known as anencephaly.

The baby, who they named Eva, will be born without a fully-developed brain and is expected to die within hours of her birth.

Mr and Mrs Young weighed whether to induce an early pregnancy and move on with their lives but decided instead to take the pregnancy to full-term so that the child’s organs could be donated.

“This is our daughter's perfect heart. She has perfect feet and perfect hands. She has perfect kidneys, perfect lungs and a perfect liver. Sadly, she doesn't have a perfect brain,” Mrs Young wrote on Facebook.

“We found out recently she has anencephaly and is terminal. Faced with terrible options we have decided to continue the pregnancy to full term so Eva, which literally means life, can grow strong and give life to multiple people through organ donation.