Another 70-year-old in India has IVF baby

[OhioChick]

Elderly woman and her first child are both doing well, newspaper reports.

msnbc.com
updated 11:43 a.m. ET, Mon., Dec. 8, 2008
A 70-year-old woman in India gave birth to her first child, a girl, after undergoing infertility treatment, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The mother, Rajo Devi, had been trying for 50 years to get pregnant with her 72-year-old husband, who had failed to become a father in two prior marriages. It was undetermined whose egg and sperm were used in the treatment, the newspaper reported.

Devi became pregnant through in vitro fertilization at a clinic in the northern Indian state of Haryana after doctors determined that she was healthy enough to survive a high-risk pregnancy. The mother and her infant daughter are reportedly both doing well.

Devi is the second 70-year-old in India to give birth this year. In July, Omkari Panwar, a mother of two daughters — and grandmother to five — gave birth via Caesarean section to twins, a boy and girl, after undergoing IVF. At the time, Panwar — although she had no birth certificate, so her age couldn't be verified — became the oldest woman to give birth. In 2006, a 67-year-old woman in Spain gave birth to IVF twins.

Although advances in fertility procedures have increasingly enabled older women to give birth, some medical ethics experts question whether clinics should accept a 70-year-old as a patient. The doctor who treated Devi said he didn't expect any medical problems for the elderly woman and her child, except for the likelihood that the child could be orphaned at an early age because of her parents' old age, the newspaper reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28112285/wid/11915773?GT1=31037

Is it just me, or is 70 years a bit old to have a child? I remember hearing last year sometime that a woman in her late 60's had given birth and thought that was a bit on the older side.

[saracat]

1. What I don't get is why they don't adopt? It isn't as though the child is actually

biologically hers to begin with. I don't know if it is the husbands. But doesn't India have a huge population problem?

[rosesaylavee]

3. Ditto.

And yes.

At 70, chances are good neither of them will be there to raise the child until he/she is of age. Just incredibly self-centered and selfish.

[DonEBrook]

2. Not just "a bit old", it's obscene and insane.

:grr:

[Taverner]

4. Hey - I'll take this in exchange for all of the unwanted pregnancies out there

Fair cop? You guys can have kids WHENEVER you want, if we make sure the kids who show up when we DON'T want them are taken care of !

[PeaceNikki]

7. Men do it all the time.

Larry King, Tony Randall, etc.

I think it's crazy for anyone.

[OhioChick]

8. I agree, men included. n/t

[Azlady]

5. Boy the other thing about this is -

depends on what belief they have and what part of India. If her husband should die or decide he doesn not want her anymore, she is shunned, I think Dateline did a special on this recently. So Mother and baby could be living in terrible condition of husband would die. Geez that is way too old! I hope they have back up plans for God parents.

The special that was on TV was great, a guy here in the US was giving these women micro-loans to create their own start up businesses and how the program was working.

[frazzled]

6. How does a 70-year-old body support a pregnancy?

I mean, you don't have a lot of hormones left at that age. Don't answer: I don't necessarily want to know.

[HeresyLives]

10. HRT. Hormone Replacement Therapy.

I'm amazed at the opinions here.

Life expectancy in Rome was about 25.

Think how old and 'past it' a 40 year old would look to them. Yet today it's commonplace.

In fact we have lots of people now that live past 100...even to 122.

[nichomachus]

9. Thank god India has solved that "not enough people here" problem

I was getting worried about them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. I'm sick and tired of these arranged pregnancies.

Whatever happened to unwanted surprises?

[Deja Q]

13. Well, don't go looking for the Duggar family...

[OhioChick]

14. .....

:rofl:

[Cleita]

12. I'm 68 and would find a kitten or puppy challenging today let

alone a human child. I did babysit for the newest grandchild, almost one years old, for an hour last month and he wore me out. If these people are rich and can afford nurses and nannies, then maybe it's okay but otherwise......:shrug:

[4 t 4]

16. God bless Her,

but is that fair to me a mother at 70 ? The child could be 10 with no Mother, how old is the Father?

[OhioChick]

18. The article says that the father is 72. n/t

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. I feel very sorry for a child who will most likely lose her parents

before she is old enough to deal with the grief. :(

[Midlodemocrat]

17. That was my first thought as well.

I think it's pretty selfish on their part.

[MilesColtrane]

19. At least they'll get bulk diaper discounts.

:hide: