Is there a maximum age at which women should stop having babies? If so, what is that age? The recent news of an elderly Indian couple who gave birth to their first child in their 70s has brought this question to the forefront. Daljinder Kaur gave birth to a healthy baby boy after undergoing fertility treatment at a clinic in northern India. Despite being married for 46 years, the couple had been struggling with infertility for years and felt blessed to finally have a child.
However, some experts have raised ethical concerns about the future of a child born to elderly parents, as well as the health risks to the mother. Fertility expert Sunil Jindal believes it is unfair to perform such procedures on women over 60, as carrying a child for nine months can be quite stressful.
Additionally, there are practical concerns about how the elderly parents will care for the child. Although it was initially thought that the child was conceived using the wife’s egg and the husband’s sperm, new reports suggest that a donor egg was used instead.
This is not the first case of an elderly couple having a child through fertility treatments in India. In fact, the lack of regulations regarding the age of women seeking fertility treatments has caused concern among medical professionals. The Indian medical council is currently lobbying for a ban on treatments for women aged 50 and above, citing health risks to both the mother and child.
While it remains to be seen whether this bill will be passed, it would bring India in line with several Western countries that have regulations on the age of IVF candidates.