Monday, January 29, 2007

What Kind of Parent Will She Make?

What does it say about a woman's parenting skills when her first act -- on the way to motherhood -- is a lie?
A 67-year old woman from Spain told a British newspaper yesterday that she lied to the California fertility clinic in order to become pregnant with her twin boys, who were born on Dec. 29. (www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/28/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Spain-Old-Mother.php)
The cut off age for the fertility clinic's in vitro fertilization procedure is 55. She told the clinic she was 55.
SHE LIED! She was 66 at the time of the procedure.
While the twin boys, born premature, are doing well; the clinic says it never would have agreed to do the procedure, if they knew the woman's real age.
The woman, who sold her house to pay for the $50,000+ procedure, said she lied because every woman has the right to give birth.
True, but not every woman is worthy of being a "mommy."
Think of it -- she lied to become pregnant.
And soon, this single mom will need to teach her boys that they should be "fair & honest," and follow rules to be good citizens.
Shouldn't a mom practice what she preaches?
Now, she is considered to be the oldest mom in the world. I had a hard time in my mid-30s, keeping up with my daughter when she was a toddler. Can you imagine chasing two boys all over the house in your 60s?
Think about it for a moment -- when her boys enter first grade, she'll be in her 70s; and if she is lucky to live to see her twins graduate from high school, she'll be 84 or 85 years old.
In the U.S., about 500 women, between 1997 and 1999, gave birth at age 50 or older. Not a lot.(www.webmd.com/content/article/129/117481). And the vast majority of those births involved egg donation from younger women and conception via in vitro fertilization
But women who give birth later in life (many post-menopausal) typically were hospitalzed almost three times as often and delivered twice as many low-birth-weight babies.
So, what age is too old to give birth?

1 comment:

Marissa M. said...

I completely agree.
To be a parent you need to be responsible.
How responsible can you be if you become a "new mom" in your 60s?