by Toni (Mon Jan 18, 2010)
The London Women's Clinic, a private clinic
in London, is to allow 59-year-old Susan Tollefsen to undergo IVF
treatment. Mrs. Tollefsen already has a 2-year-old daughter and describes
herself as 'full of life.' Naturally, this has caused much debate
about the ethics and even the legality of providing IVF treatment to
such an 'old' patient. (The legal doubt because Section 13
(5) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, prohibits IVF treatment
unless account has been taken of the welfare of any child who may be born as a
result of the treatment.)
I know that there are many arguments in favour of older women
conceiving, especially since few question an older man's right to father
a child. However, given that most older fathers can still come up with the
goods (ie. sperm), there's not a lot we can do about it apart from considering 'bedroom police.' As it happens though, many of the arguments against
older parenting would include dads as well as mums.
For example, is it fair to children that they'll live most of their lives without that
parent? As someone who lost her 50-year-old father at the age of 20,
it's been hard not to have him around to see my family. I know we can lose
anyone at any time, but with a 60-year-old mother or a 70-year-old father,
you're pretty much guaranteed the loss as a young adult.
And what about the psychological welfare of the children? I know several families
where the 70-odd-year-old father has started to have health problems,
leaving the young children constantly worrying that they are about to lose him.
There is also the problem of who will foot future bills if the children are left orphans. What
if one or both parents become too infirm to care for the children and the
children are still too young to care for them?
And is it fair that the children might be caring for their elderly parents
perhaps before they even finish college? It's hard enough doing this in your
40's, 50's and 60's.
So if this private clinic is the only place in the UK where women over fifty can
go for IVF treatment (ka-ching) is there a conflict of interests in their
decision-making process?
As someone who had her first baby at 31, and her last at 41, I don't care how 'full of life' you feel, the older you get the harder it is
physically. I joke that my little guy gets more of my time, but it's really
because once I get down on the floor to play with him, it's too much effort to
keep getting up!
