Over the weekend, the wire services released a story of a 67 year old Romanian woman who has become the oldest woman in history to deliver a baby. The previous record holder was a 62 year old Italian woman.
Obviously, this woman used donated eggs and possibly also donated sperm though the story wasn't clear on that point. Evidently, she has been trying conceive for nine years which means she was "only" 58 years old when she started trying.
Importantly, she conceived a twin pregnancy but was delivered by cesarean section when one of the twins died in utero.
We know that it is possible to get older women pregnant using egg donation at the same success rate as younger women. We also know that the risk of older women carrying a pregnancy are increased. Specificially, the risk for gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction and even intrauterine fetal death are all higher. Essentially 100% of these older women deliver by cesarean section.
What we do not know is whether there is an age beyond which
This case brings that point up since she lost one of the twins. It is impossible to say on the basis of one case that this was due to her age. Younger women can lose a baby also.
Even if we do beleive that her age increased the risk of fetal death, what then should we do about it? The simple answer is to restrict the age that women can attempt pregnancy at. However, this is a very slippery slope. If we restrict a woman's right to have children based on risk then what do we do about younger women who may be at greater risk because of other problems? Who becomes the judge in deciding who is allowed to have children and who is not?
This is a question that only society at large can answer and it won't be an easy one
No comments:
Post a Comment