The Tasmanian mother, who conceived using a donated egg in an IVF unit outside of Australia, has a partner who is 78 years of age.
A broad array of opinions have been voiced this week – mostly condemning, of a 62 year old first time mother who delivered a baby by caesarean section in Victoria recently. Her baby was 6 weeks premature and needed neonatal intensive care.
The Tasmanian mother, who conceived using a donated egg in an IVF unit outside of Australia, has a partner who is 78 years of age.
This case raises the question: Has IVF now opened a Pandora’s box that will result in a generation of orphaned children? How will these parents cope with the challenging and intensive needs of their baby, child and later teenager? Will the parents survive to see their baby become an adult? Who will step in if the worst-case scenario happens?
Personally in my practice, I have not seen a single patient in this age bracket seeking fertility treatment – this situation is far from the norm and also far from what most 60+ year olds would contemplate for their future.
Examples such as this couple are probably going to become even more unusual moving forward. Why? Because of the incredible advances in IVF technology that have occurred over the last 20 years.
When this patient was in her 40’s, childless and approaching the end of her natural fertility, she tried 1990’s IVF (then at a relatively early stage of the technology’s development) and still could not have a baby.
If the same woman was in her 40’s and infertile today, her life could be very different as she could have access to a donor egg at that time, or even a gestational surrogate if other health reasons restricted her fertility. For this reason, I think it will be rare moving forward that women facing infertility will delay using technology until their 60’s in the current generation.
it is likely that, for years, this person has carried a tremendous sorrow and probably always regretted not having been able to carry and raise a child. We may look at this desire skeptically. We may label the downstream actions of this couple irresponsible. However we should not forget the depth of this hurt. The World Health Organisation acknowledges the right to seek fertility as a fundamental human right. This definition does not carry an age restriction.
In Victoria. there is no legal restriction on who may become pregnant through egg donor IVF. Personally, I treat women using a donor egg if they are fit and well, without implementing an arbitrary age limit. I require patients over 45 years to have extensive prepregnancy assessments to ensure pregnancy will not be too dangerous for them. This includes cardiac assessments and review by a specialist RANZCOG Board Certified Maternal & Fetal Medicine Specialist Obstetrician.
