Luciano Pavarotti, Fred Thompson

Should "older people" have young children?

By Klaus Rohrich

Saturday, September 22, 2007

There appears to be a trend among a sizable number of individuals in their 50s 60s and even 70s to marry a younger spouse and have children either naturally or through in vitro fertilization. More and more one reads reports in the media of women in their 60s giving birth to children or older men marrying a young woman and starting a family anew.

While many people marvel at the wonders of modern science and many others marvel at the rashness of those older people having babies, no one seems to consider the dilemma that these children will ultimately find themselves in.

The death of Luciano Pavarotti, the 71-year old tenor who succumbed to cancer a few weeks ago, is a classic example as he leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter who will surely miss having a daddy as she grows up.

Another sterling example is Fred Thompson, the former US Senator, actor and Presidential candidate, who has started a new family with his second wife, Jeri and now has a four year old and a six-month-old baby. Thompson even had a changing table installed on his campaign bus to accommodate the needs of his youngest.

Then there is the case of one Carmela Bousada, the 67-year old Spanish woman who lied about her age in order to receive in vitro fertilization at the Los Angeles based Pacific Fertility Center and subsequently became the oldest woman in history to give birth to not one, but two healthy babies.

The doctor who performed the procedure, Dr. Vicken Sahakian, said that he would never have accommodated Bousada had she not lied and falsified documents regarding her age. This is not the first time an older woman has chosen to have a baby through in vitro fertilization. In 1996, a fertility clinic at USC unwittingly helped a woman in her 60's get pregnant. She later gave birth at 63. USC now requires photo identification before accepting a patient.

Dr. Sahakian is not pleased about Ms Bousada becoming a mother at her advanced age. "She could die 10 years from now. What will happen to the children?"

This is the crux of the ethical conundrum that faces those who choose to have children at an advanced age. While medical science has extended the average lifespan in North America by some 60% over the last century, the majority of people still tend to die in their 70s and 80s. Sadly there is little medical science can do to console young children who lose one or both parents due to old age.

The human body is designed to spawn children at an optimal age that's usually under the age of 40. As the body ages beyond that point, the ability to conceive is curtailed and for good reason. Children need care and guidance, which is a job best suited for someone that has the energy to do it. At best, Ms Bousada will still be alive by the time her twins reach the age of 20, but even she admits that it's more than she can handle to care for them on an ongoing basis. At worst, Ms. Bousada will, like Luciano Pavarotti, die before her children attain full maturity.

It seems an awfully self indulgent decision to have children at that age, as it assumes that the parent can beat the odds and survive to the child's maturity. It's a nearly 100% guarantee that the child will be orphaned well before the time it is ready to make its own way in the world.