62-year-old Tasmanian woman is oldest Australian to give birth

At 62 years old, a woman from Tasmania made Australian record by being the oldest woman to give birth in the country. It is the first baby for the woman and her 78-year-old partner. She delivered by caesarean section on Monday at the Frances Perry House, a private hospital in Melbourne.

She broke the record previously held by a 60-year-old woman who gave birth in 2010. But the 62-year-old Tasmanian new mum did not break the record set by a 65-year-old German grandmother who gave birth in May 2015 to quadruplets.

The elderly Tasmanian couple conceived through IVF overseas by using a donor embryo, reports Stuff.co.nz. The newborn was premature at 34 weeks but is doing well.

However, an IVF pioneer in Australia, Gab Kovacs, called the procedure irresponsible. “She is the birth mother and social mother – but you can’t have babies at 62, you just can’t,” AAP quotes Kovacs, Monash University professor.

Kovacs says IVF clinics must act responsibly and refused treatment once a woman’s menstruation has stopped, at an average age of 52. Because of the advanced age of the new mother, he is worried about her parental ability as well as that of her 78-year-old partner who would be 99 when their daughter turns 21.

He stresses Monash IVF did not design its programme for 62-year-olds. “We did it for women who go through menopause in their 20s or 30s and were unable to have a family,” Kovacs points out.

Michael Gannon, president of the Australian Medical Association, agreed with Kovacs and adds the woman’s decision to bear a child at her age is wrong and selfish. “Madness. Not designed to have kids in 60s,” he tweets.

The record of giving birth to a healthy baby in her senior years is held by a 72-year-old Indian woman who could even breastfeed her newborn.

VIDEO: 72-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth to Healthy Baby Boy and Even Breastfeeds

Source: Inside Edition