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70-year-old woman gives birth

By Carla Bevan on Tuesday 9 December 2008

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India, world news, Maire Claire

A 70-year-old Indian woman has become the world's oldest mother after giving birth to a healthy baby girl.

Rajo Devi, who's been married for 50 years to her husband, Bala Ram, delivered a little girl on 28 November, following fertility treatment at the Hisar fertility centre in India's Haryana state.

'We longed for a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one in the twilight years of our life,' said Rajo, whose husband married her sister when they failed to produce a baby after 10 years of trying. However, that marriage was also childless, leading Rajo and Bala to seek medical help.

'IVF has revolutionised the way we look at infertility,' Dr Bishnoi of the Hisar fertility centre told the Hindustan Times. 'Infertility is no longer a social taboo or a divine curse. It can be treated scientifically.'

'Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer in Romania, was the oldest woman to have given birth. She delivered at the age of 66 in 2006. Maria Del, a Spanish woman, gave birth by the IVF treatment at the age of 67. And now, Rajo Devi has become the oldest woman to have given birth and the first woman in her seventies to do so.'

Tuesday 9 December 2008

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How very selfish, how long will the child have parents for? It would seem that he/she will end up as a carer for its elderly parents.
Comment by Amanda on December 09 12:55

These people are incredibly selfish and haven't considered their child at all. This is not something to be encouraged. It should not matter in the slightlest how healthy the people are, or how much money they have to fund it, fertility treatment should not be available at all to people after they are older than early fifties, as this is a very normal age for a woman to have gone through the change, and if therefore the body cannot do it naturally, then it is obviously not supposed to happen for a very good reason. If these people had considered their child at all, they would have thought about the fact that they could very easily not be around in the near future, or they are likely to be very dependent on that poor child before it's very old and had any life itself.

I personally am disgusted that any doctor would be so irresponsible to go ahead and give fertility treatment to these people, it just shows that some people have no morals at all where money is concerned.
Comment by Dawn on December 09 13:17

Presumably she used donor eggs? I think these sorts of articles, along with those about Hollywood stars in their 40s giving birth, need to make the position clearer. Women suffering infertility get their hopes up without realising what has really happened. Lets be more honest about infertility.
Comment by RMA on December 09 14:05

i cannot imaging being 70 and having a baby to look after - I'm knackered most of the time with my little one and I'm a young mum (in comparison)....poor kid though
Comment by debs on December 09 14:11

People like this are stupid, selfish and immoral
Comment by Lizzie on December 09 16:31

I agree with all the above comments - this was a totally selfish act. Why don't these doctors give hope to women of child bearing age. This child will be looking after its parents when he/she should be looked after!
Comment by Tracy on December 09 17:39

I agree with Amanda and Dawn. This is such a selfish act. The menopause is there for a reason, because your body becomes to old to cope with the stresses and strains of being pregnant and looking after a child. Pregnancy puts a massive strain on the body and your organs, to get through this at 70 and then think you can be active and healthy enough to look after a newborn is ludicrous.

This treatment should not be allowed for women of this age, because no women of this age can give birth naturally, so they shouldn't be able to get help towards conceiving.

I dread to think what would happen if they became too ill to get out of bed, or become ill with dementia. It doesn't bear thinking about what life that child may have with parents that are 40 or 50 years older then it's friends parents. They may have life experience and wisdom, but that's what grandparents are for. Parents are there to care for you, not you for them!
Comment by Becca on December 09 21:03

I'm sorry but i think this is pathetic, 70yrs and had a baby, I am a mother of two I'm 46yrs old and on to my grand kids now, i have my little grandson 1day a week as much as i idolise him i am shattered after it. How is she going to feel at 70 looking after a baby full time.. Where is justice in this? There are people out there desperately wanting children and cannot afford the treatment and they are many years younger. And what happens to the poor child when something happens to the parents!!!!
Comment by c.morgan on December 09 23:07

I hope the child has someone around to care for her/him when the parents are no longer around
Comment by Regina on December 10 09:29

Many children are born to much younger parents and are unwanted and unloved only to grow up with many problems in their lives, this child is very unwanted, why discriminate with age. No one knows what lies ahead regardless of age. Stop the judgment on women.
Comment by penny on December 12 13:58

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