Wanting to be a pregnant Mother at over 50

Media coverage this week has been saturated about the case of a woman wanting to be a Mother at the age of 50. More accurately wants to become pregnant at the age 50. This topic is often taboo here in Australia. The process of paying for eggs and or carrying someone else's baby for money is against the law. A woman has become so desperate to have a baby she has advertised for eggs and pleaded her case in the media. The media are exploiting the topic for all it's worth. Lots of questions are being asked about the woman's suitability to be a Mother. Is she too old? According to Doctors as long as she does not reach menopause they are willing to go through treatment using another woman's eggs. As a man of course, I am not allowed to comment o rather pass judgment." The view is living in a Man's world we can do anything we want to include having children from conception into our sixties."

Pregnancy over the age 50 has been made more possible due to advances in assisted reproductive technology. This includes fertilization resulting from egg donation. This is not to say women have not become pregnant in their fifties before, though the success rates are very rare. Typically, a woman's fertility ends with menopause, which by definition is 12 consecutive months without having had a period. Peri menopause usually begins between ages 40 and 51. This is when the periods become irregular and eventually stop altogether. Men, in contrast, generally remainfertile throughout their lives Lots of women are taking to the airwaves to voice their opinion. There seems to be about equal amount of opinion on both sides. Some says she is now too old and unsuited to having and caring for a baby. Others prepared to speak out, hope she is successful both in procuring the eggs from a women whom is willing to donate their eggs without charge or payment. It is against the law in Australia to buy or procure the payment of fertility eggs from another person here in Australia-You will be prosecuted. However, you are able to advertise providing you do not give or offer payment for such service. This law has strong support equally has opinions strongly against it. Iwas surprised about the amount of vitriol thathas been spewed out about a woman that was to give birth to a child even though her age is 50. Those againstbelieve amongst other things thatit's against God's Will that the person becomespregnant as such sheis not entitled to give birth

Egg donation is the process by which a woman provides one or several (usually 10-15) eggs (ova, oocytes) for purposes of assisted reproduction or biomedical research. For assisted reproduction purposes, egg donation involves the process of In-Vitro Fertilization as the eggs are fertilized in the laboratory

Egg donation is regulated and /or prohibited in many countries. In the United States, having an attorney draft a contract is often necessary to establish and confirm the parental rights over any child. Using an attorney that specializes in reproductive law is highly suggested.

A need for egg donation may arise for a number of reasons. Infertile couples may resort to acquiring eggs through egg donation when the female partner cannot have genetic children because she may not have eggs that can generate a viable pregnancy

Egg donation carries risks for both donor and recipient, although it must be made clear that the procedure for the donor, and the medication given, is basically the same as the medication given for any IVF procedure (with or without a donor). The egg donor may suffer complications from IVF, such as bleeding from the oocyte recovery procedure and reaction to the hormones used to induce hyper-ovulation. The costs for in vitro fertilization are certainly not cheap and still there is still only a 40 per cent chance of pregnancy occurring through this treatment.

As I said at the outset the motivation for donating ones eggs to another woman in Australia cannot be monetary. No payment can be given or received for the donations of a woman's eggs or in fact any other part of the body. This differs in other countries some countries limit the payment to $1500. Often counselling and a written contract is mandatory so that the woman who gives the eggs cannot claim later to be the mother of the child produced.

Many argue well why does not the woman adopt a child given that she will be of senior age when the child becomes a teenager. The counter arguments are that adoption is still very difficult in Australia. Even if you choose to adopt from overseas the waiting time and costs ares till high and very prohibitive.  This is a wake up call to society to both simplify the adoption system.  As well to women that child birth years quickly diminish when one reaches one's late forties.

Birth mothers over 50 (small sample)

• 1669: Elizabeth Greenhill, born 1615, who had 39 children with her husband William Greenhill, gave birth to her last child, London surgeon Thomas Greenhill, in 1669 at the age of 54 had her last child, having conceived naturally.

• 1880: Lucy Gauss Kenney, a Confederate veteran, gave birth to her last child at age 53, after a natural conception
• 1992: Geraldine Wesolowski of New York gave birth to her own grandson Matthew in December 1992 at the age of 53, after IVF treatment in Christian Fertility Institute in Easton, Pennsylvania, in order to act as a gestational surrogate for her son and his wife, who underwent hysterectomy and was not able to have children
• 2009: 54-year-old woman gave birth to twins in Bnei Brak, Israel, in November 2009. Her 71-year old husband became a first time father, while she had adult children from previous marriage.
• 1956: Ruth Kistler of Portland, Oregon gave birth to a daughter in Los Angeles, California on October 18, 1956, at the age of 57. The birth predated the advent of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) making Kistler one of the oldest women known to have conceived naturally
• 2005: Rosie Swain naturally gave birth to twins, Diana and Christian, in USA on April 20, 2005, at the age of 57. Swain and her husband Jay, who already were great-grandparents, decided to go through IVF in order to give their last child, 6-year-old son Jimmy, a sibling close in age.