I'm pregnant at 63 - but I've made plans for baby's future

A WOMAN set to become the UK's oldest mother yesterday defended her decision to have a baby at the age of 63, saying it was not taken lightly.

Child psychiatrist Dr Patricia Rashbrook is now seven months pregnant after a £7,000 course of IVF treatment.

She faced a barrage of criticism from fertility experts and campaigners who highlighted the risks involved to both mother and child.

But Dr Rashbrook and second husband John Farrant, 61, yesterday said they had fully considered the current and future wellbeing of their child.

The couple sought the help of maverick fertility doctor Severino Antinori in Rome, who then sent them to Russia to use a donor egg to conceive.

Speaking from his clinic, the professor, who has also said he wants to create the world's first human clone, said the patient's age was "completely irrelevant".

Yesterday the couple emerged from their home in Lewes, East Sussex, into the glare of the media spotlight. Dr Rashbrook, who already has two grown-up children from her first marriage, said: "We just want you to know that we take our responsibilities to our child very seriously and we wish now to be allowed privacy and space."

The case has renewed concerns about pushing the boundaries of fertility, allowing women to have a baby much later than nature would allow.

Dr Rashbrook, who remarried five years ago, said the couple's decision had not been taken lightly. In a joint statement, the couple acknowledged the "unusual and potentially controversial" aspects of the pregnancy. But they refused to go into details about the circumstances of the conception.

"We, however, 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 said.

Professor Antinori said he believes older women made better mothers than younger ones.

"The age is not a problem. They love each other deeply and want to have children to show this love they have," he said.

"I specialise in helping couples have children who can't and if I can bring them happiness, where is the harm?" he said.

The doctor said he had interviewed the couple several times over two years and had taken account of past health.

"After all this I decided that this couple would be perfect," he said. "She came to see me because she knew I was the best in the world."

The treatment is banned under Italian law, meaning the couple had to go to Russia to use a donor egg implanted with Mr Farrant's sperm, Professor Antinori said.

In the UK there is no age limit for IVF treatment, though clinics will usually not treat women over 45. In 1997 Liz Buttle, from Cwmann, Wales, became Britain's oldest mother when she gave birth to her son, Joe, at 60.

The world's oldest mother is thought to be Adriana Iliescu from Romania, who gave birth at the age of 66 last year.

James Healy, spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said: "There is no age limit to fertility treatment set down in UK law and whether a particular person is treated is left to the clinical judgment of doctors.

"But the law says that clinics must take into account the welfare of the child, including the health, age and ability to provide for the needs of the child or children."

Experts warned that older women can face a raft of problems during pregnancy, risking the health of mother and child.

Professor Siladitya Bhattacharya, head of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Aberdeen University, said older mothers were more likely to have health problems such as diabetes and hypertension.

"It is sometimes difficult for someone who really wants a baby to be objective about the situation," he said.

"If you ask them to give a bit of their health away to have a baby many are willing to do that."

The British Fertility Society wished Dr Rashbrook well with her pregnancy.

But a spokesman added: "We have serious concerns about the infertility treatment of women over 50, particularly because of the increased health risks to the mother and welfare of the child that results."

Sheena Young, regional organiser for charity Infertility Network Scotland, said they understood the emotional problems experienced when women find they need treatment in order to conceive.

"However, this has to be balanced by the need to consider the welfare of the child and the health implications for both the mother and the baby of conceiving at an older age," she said.

Pro-life campaigners also condemned the couple's decision to have a baby.

Matthew O'Gorman, from campaign group Life, said: "He or she is 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."

Josephine Quintavalle of 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."

Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said they had been opposed to IVF treatment for the very reason that it raised ethical problems such as much older women being able to have babies.

"We have opened the door and allowed science to do what it has always done, to push the boundaries without thinking about the consequences.

"We now have to face up to what that means, in this case a child just starting school when its mother is drawing her pension.

"There are obvious social difficulties here."

How it works

IN VITRO fertilisation (IVF) has helped thousands of childless couples fulfil their dreams of having a family.

The technique was developed in the 1970s by British doctors Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, with the test-tube baby Louise Brown born in 1977. Since then, some 30,000 test-tube babies have been born in the UK.

There are several different IVF techniques, but the main process involves a woman taking fertility drugs to help her produce more eggs in the ovaries.

These eggs are then harvested and fertilised with sperm in the laboratory.

The woman is given hormone drugs to prepare her womb to receive the fertilised eggs.

The eggs are placed inside the womb with the hope that a normal pregnancy follows.

But most couples have to go through several expensive cycles of treatment before they are successful.

Only about a third of women successfully conceive after one round of IVF.

Those opposed to the treatment argue that it falsely raises couples' hopes.

IVF also increases the chance of a woman having a multiple birth, with extra costs and medical risks involved.

In the UK, IVF is regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, who license clinics carrying out such treatment.

Source: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=673512006

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