IVF can give women ability to choose
A 63-year-old woman who became a mother in Dubai set off an intense debate this week
Awoman in Dubai has had a baby at the age of 63, leading to intense debate about the merits and ethics of older people having children. It is certainly an issue that provokes passions on both sides. There are, to be sure, downsides to late parenthood. And of these, the most important is health – older bodies are more prone to the immense stresses of pregnancy and childbirth. Then there is the moral component: a child born to a mother in her sixties will probably not have much time to get to know her. So there are genuine questions about whether older people should be offered IVF. Of course, having children at a younger age does not guarantee that the mother will remain in good health. Such are the vagaries of life that the moral balance sheet is rarely straightforward. IVF complicates it further, and there is no guarantee that it will even result in a pregnancy. It is also immensely expensive, invasive and physically and emotionally draining. Anyone who embarks on such an ordeal must desperately want children.
Nevertheless, IVF can have important and positive effects. It allows women to pursue their careers for longer, unencumbered by the demands of motherhood. Women in the developed world are already delaying marriage and children, because even those in their thirties find that taking a few years off to have children can have a detrimental effect on their career. IVF can offer an opportunity for motherhood after profession and career are settled. This isn’t an ideal solution for everyone and may even invite accusations of selfishness, but IVF at least offers an opportunity denied by nature to debate the respective merits of career and motherhood.
The perception of what constitutes childbearing years is changing. Older mothers and fathers are more socially acceptable than ever. The 63-year-old woman in Dubai is an exception, but her case prompts consideration of far more than might immediately come to mind. There are many who crave the joys of children, and who are we to judge? There is also, in this case, a slight whiff of discrimination against women: older men having children with younger women are less frowned upon.
Maybe healthy women should be entitled to pursue IVF as long as they are aware of the consequences to themselves and their children. Each case must be judged upon its particulars. Life, including the decision to bring a new one into the world, is full of hard choices.