I find it troubling that she was able to lie about her age to the tune of 11 years, first of all.

I say that if you are pro-choice, this is not even an issue. She wanted to have children, she did have children.
And I would say the sheer amount of stress involved with the adoption process would also be considered as a risk to her health, Leahsmom.

No no, I’m not saying that older women should be prevented from getting fertility treatments. This article asked if we thought it was irresponsible to do so. My opinion on that will depend on what the risks of the treatment are and whether she was informed of them. So, it’s hard for me to opine, as asked here, without that information. But I do believe women should have the right to do what they wish with their bodies, whether I agree with the decision or not. That’s part of why I fight for reproductive and healthcare rights. But the article wasn’t asking about her rights, it asked about our opinions. What is your opinion? Do you feel it would be irresponsible for an older woman to have children by any means, then? Because the stress of adopting increases the risk of death, too?

First, it really isn’t surprising that she could get away with an 11-year lie about her age (I’m not condoning it, just not very troubled/surprised that she could do it.) Find me an “average”-looking 66-year-old and I could easily find you many, many 55-year-olds who look just as old or older, and vice versa.

Because of her true age and her deliberate lie hiding that age, I think what she did was absolutely wrong. Selfish, irresponsible, and wrong. In my opinion, getting pregnant at 55 is also quite selfish and irresponsible, but that’s not my decision to make for anyone else. Hopefully, this woman arranged for their care before she died (I would guess so, since it wasn’t sudden or unexpected) and that she had the means to monetarily provide for their upbringing even in her absence.

To address Sheri’s comment: maybe in your conception of what it means to be pro-choice these questions don’t matter, but you’d be wrong (spoken like a prolifer, am I right?). Nice try, though, bringing abortion into the conversation when it has no place.

Finally, to Lifeleaper: “another example of the dark side of Woman”??? Really?!? I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or rant over your comment. All I have to say is get over yourself and stop judging women’s choices, women whose lives, circumstances, and motivations you no NOTHING about.

Just because you can do something…doesn’t mean you should. There is no legal age cut-off in the US, just as there is no “official” minimum age (other than 18) for tubal ligation, but most doctors find it makes them too uncomfortable to assist in this sort of SELFISH and risky procedure. I don’t think the government should have a cut-off age, but doctors should continue to follow their conscience instead of feeling like they are being “anti-choice” by exercising common sense.

I am a believer that people over the age of 50 should not have babies for practical reasons.
- Playing football in the park would lack a certain wow to it. Bare in mind the adult will not be 50 when the child is 12 and wanting to be all active.
- The world is already so so crowded. I know this is quite weak but, it’s so true! In the last 50 years, the worlds population has sky rocketed and the Earth hasn’t grown in size to accomodate us in terms of resources and space :o
- The chances of having a healthy pregnancy decline and there’s a soul being brought in to this world in its process. Not just a mother getting pregnant
- An unfortunate and inevitable side effect of “Western” society; the kids will get so ripped at school for it.
- Menopause is written in to our very genes! Take a hint that nature doesn’t want us to have babies after a certain age, it’s been around a lot longer than any of us have
- ”
The unique long menopause of women could be an evolutionary trait, as grandmas help their daughters raise their offspring, which in the end also carry their genes, and boost this way their own biological success.” Who will be grand parents to the kids their kids have?

I’ve strewn out a long list of reasons I believe people shouldn’t reproduce after a certain age but ultimately it boils down to this. In todays world with its freedoms to speak and act, people CAN do what they want irregardless of truly thinking the ramifications through. It’s resulted in us turning this world in to a raisin where it was once a juicy grape, it’s caused us to think so much about the small things, we forget the big things that really matter; this isn’t one of them :p

Sheri, part of the problem is that the human body picked its own cut-off point for a reason. From what I read of this woman she chose to wait till she was in her sixties to have kis, which in my opinion is just a bit beyond selfish. Just because science has made something possible does not mean that it should be done. And this has nothing whatsoever to do with abortion. Bringing up abortion on the topic of IVF and surrogates or whatever various ways people have kids is just silly. That’s like bringing up bunion removal when discussing the validity of breast implants.

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