Number of births for women over 50 soaring

If further evidence was needed that reproductive technology is running amok. Thankfully the numbers are still relatively small:

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The number of births to 50-plus women has quadrupled over the last two decades, up from 55 in 2001 to 238 in 2016. During that period there were 1,859 births in the UK to women over 50, and 153 to women over 55.

But it's ridiculous: they're using donor eggs and sperm donation, just to create a random person that they could have adopted if they weren't so keen for calcium loss and the other effects of pregnancy. And even a few people involved in the field think the focus should not be on increasing maternal ages, but on figuring out you want a child sooner.

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Adam Balen, professor of reproductive medicine at Leeds University and fertility spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, shares Barnsley’s concerns. “We’re not very good in the west at preventative medicine, and in the world of infertility we are treating lots of things that could have been prevented,” he says. If IVF has the reputation for being a panacea then that, he stresses, is misplaced. “IVF doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s not available on the NHS for everyone.” As well as being expensive (some of the women I spoke to have spent upwards of £20,000 on their quest for a baby, and anecdotally others have spent far more), late pregnancy carries risks, says Balen. Miscarriage and pre-eclampsia, in particular, are more likely; and the use of donated gametes increases those risks. Stresses around assisted conception can also affect a relationship.

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Barnsley has some concerns about the trend. “Fiftysomething motherhood will only ever be a choice for the well-off,” she says. “And some women will spend a lot of money on something that doesn’t, in the end, work out. Imagine borrowing £50,000 and then being unsuccessful.” She also wonders where the child’s perspective is in the debate. “I’m thinking of 21-year-olds who instead of travelling the world will be looking after a parent with Alzheimer’s,” she says. “They run the risk of being out of sync with their peers, and that might not be easy.”

Warning, the article is almost entirely written with a positive slant.

Just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should. You'd think women in their fifties would have learned how to, you know, consider the consequences of their actions. Not these specimens! They just dive in head-first Leeroy Jenkins-style without a single fuck to give about anything other than getting their own way like they're still teenagers.

They get a cute baby to play with for a while, but they don't consider the fact that they're going to have to run around after a screaming toddler when they're pushing 60. That shit is hard when you're half that age, not to mention the burden of caring for an ailing parent will fall on the child when they're far too young. I'm sure these proud mommies think they're gonna live to be 100 and will have the health and energy of a 20-year-old the whole time because of their love for their kids, but they're at the prime age for huge health failures. Their school-aged kids will either have to take up the role of caregiver or become an orphan if Moo's health takes a turn for the worst.

Fifty-something celebs can get away with this crap because they can pay other people to mind their kids for them for their entire lives. That's really not the case with the average person, especially if they just blew $50K on IVF. If these women really need a kid, can't they foster a teeanger? That way, the kid's almost grown up and they might even get a discount on adoption costs for taking in a less desirable child. Because what they're basically doing now is a very roundabout and much more expensive version of adoption when they use both donor eggs and sperm.

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Gemma Barnes, meanwhile, hasn’t written her to-do list for her 52nd birthday, which is coming up later this year. But when I ask her what’s going on it she smiles broadly and says she is definitely not ruling out a brother or sister for Hannah.

Of course she is, because why the hell not! And the upside is if she dies, one kid can take care of the other, so it's all totally okay! Who cares if the kids have to figure out how to arrange Moo's funeral when they should be doing their high school midterms, just as long as Moo gets her own way!

That is so irresponsible. These women care nothing for the health risk they're taking on behalf of those children. And I can attest that having older parents sucked in a lot of ways, growing up AND as an adult.

(BTW, Cambion, "They just dive in head-first Leeroy Jenkins-style" is funny. )

For every one that is successful, think of how many thousands of cows do it for years.

Didn't Bridgette Nielsen admit to trying for seven years or something ghastly like that? I'm waiting for her to get breast cancer from hyper-stimulating herself with estrogen.

The race is on....will they live long enough to see their kid graduate from high school? My vote is no. I think parenting at 50+ is bound to take at least 10 years off their lives. Pregnant at 55 and a typical life expectancy of 80 is 70. Parent dies when kid is 15. 55 isn't old but 55 and a new parent is old.

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freya
The race is on....will they live long enough to see their kid graduate from high school? My vote is no. I think parenting at 50+ is bound to take at least 10 years off their lives. Pregnant at 55 and a typical life expectancy of 80 is 70. Parent dies when kid is 15. 55 isn't old but 55 and a new parent is old.

Oh they are in complete denial about that. In the article two of them talk about how much younger they look than others their age, and how the other mums just accept them...My guess is the other mums are just biting their tongues and trying to be polite, and the strangers who have mistaken them for grandparents were being honest. The celebrities having babies in their 50s may look young, but that's due to lots of $$$. Anyhow, if they believe they look young I suppose they also believe that their bodies are going to bounce back from pregnancy and not suffer any permanent issues despite their advanced age.

"My guess is the other mums are just biting their tongues and trying to be polite, and the strangers who have mistaken them for grandparents were being honest. "

So that. I thought I was going to need a search party to find my eyeballs after reading how all of them had been mistaken for a grandmother but none of the playgroup mawms said anything.

Even if they looked younger due to genes the physical stress of treatment and pregnancy over 50 and the physical demands of raising a loaf are going to age them fast, particularly if they are working too. And the single Moo is thinking of having another? Unless she is wealthy and can afford to hire multiple nannies and domestic help. She is setting herself up for an early death. Not to mention, what happens to her kids when she dies?

But as usual we are the selfish ones.

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bell_flower
"My guess is the other mums are just biting their tongues and trying to be polite, and the strangers who have mistaken them for grandparents were being honest. "

So that. I thought I was going to need a search party to find my eyeballs after reading how all of them had been mistaken for a grandmother but none of the playgroup mawms said anything.

If literally everyone mistakes you for being younger, you probably do look young. If most of the people you meet have no comment about your age, and those who do comment think you're a grandmother, chances are very good that you look your age or older.

But I think how old they look is one of the smallest things they are in denial about. You have to have a real ability for ignoring reality and a total blindness to your mortality to choose pregnancy at 50+.