View Single Post
Old 05-04-2006, 08:16 PM   #1 (permalink)
KnifeMissile
 
KnifeMissile's Avatar
 
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
A 63 Year Old Expecting Mother...

Quote:
Mother-to-be, 63, defends decision to have a baby

A 63-year-old child psychiatrist who is pregnant after fertility treatment has said the decision to become Britain's oldest mother required "courage and a great deal of thought".

Dr Patricia Rashbrook paid a reported £50,000 for treatment with the controversial Italian fertility expert Dr Severino Antinori and the baby is due in two months' time. Anti-abortion groups expressed outrage at the case, but Dr Rashbrook and her husband, John Farrant, 61, said they had thought about the consequences of becoming parents at pension age.

In a statement yesterday, the couple said: "We are pleased to acknowledge this pregnancy, notwithstanding its unusual and potentially controversial aspects.

"We wish to emphasise that this has not been an endeavour undertaken lightly or without courage, that a great deal of thought has been given to planning and providing for the child's present and future well-being, medically, socially and materially."

They added: "We have greatly valued the warm support shown to us by family, friends and colleagues. We are very happy to have given life to an already much-loved baby and our wish now is to give him the peace and security he needs."

Dr Rashbrook, who has a son aged 22 and a 26-year-old daughter from her first marriage, is a consultant child psychiatrist with the East Sussex Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Her first husband died 10 years ago, and she is believed to have married Mr Farrant, an academic who is writing a book on 16th-century maritime history, only recently. They live in a Georgian townhouse in Lewes, East Sussex.

Friends of the couple say Dr Rashbrook's grown-up children are happy about their mother's pregnancy. She has also informed the NHS trust which employs her about the pregnancy and, according to reports, intends to return to work.

Dr Rashbrook and her husband are believed to have travelled to Rome to be treated by Dr Antinori at his clinic there. They have refused to discuss the treatment, but it is unlikely that Dr Rashbrook would have been able to use her own eggs and may instead have had IVF using donated eggs and sperm as well as needing hormone treatment.

Dr Antinori said the couple first consulted him three years ago. "When a couple love each other, it's natural they want to have a baby," he said. "Age isn't important in this decision; what's important is the physical condition of the mother."

Dr Antinori has courted controversy before by treating post-menopausal women and claiming to have created a cloned baby.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the UK regulatory agency, has not imposed an age limit on women, but the law states that doctors must take into account the welfare of the child and the ability of patients to provide a stable and healthy upbringing.

Josephine Quintavalle, from the lobby group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: "It is extremely difficult for a child to have a mother who is as old as a grandmother would be. She is being selfish and sometimes greater love is saying no."

Matthew O'Gorman, of the campaign group Life, said: "We see this just as another component in our culture where children are treated as a means to an end. He or she is going to be without a mother or father at the most crucial moment of adolescence or when that child is growing to maturity. This is not the way to bring a child into the world."

Most British clinics refuse to treat women over 45, although some doctors, such as Professor Ian Craft, have treated women in their fifties. In January last year, Adriana Iliescu, a 67-year-old Romanian, became the oldest woman in the world known to have given birth.

Women over 40 who become pregnant have double the risk of stillbirth and other complications.
What's with the anti-abortion groups? She's choosing to have the baby.

The only concern I have with a woman having a baby this late in life is being around long enough to raise the baby. Otherwise, I really don't feel comfortable telling someone else whether or not they may have a child.

Mind you, I'm the sort who thinks that children practically raise themselves, so perhaps my opinions are less than popular...
KnifeMissile is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360