An Indian woman claims to have had her first child at the age of 70, making her one of the oldest first-time mothers in the world.
Jivunben Rabari, believed to be 70-years-old, says she gave birth to a baby boy who was conceived through IVF. After over fifty years of marriage, Ms. Rabari and her 75-year-old husband, Maldhari, are expecting their first child.
Dr Naresh Bhanushali, who helped the couple with their IVF, said: “When they first came to us, we told them that they could not have a child at such an old age, but they insisted.”
“They said that many of their family members did it as well.”
While most pregnancies result in healthy babies, physicians caution that there is a larger risk of complications for women over the age of 40. According to a report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), the optimal age for childbearing is 20 to 35.
The chances of a woman in her 70s getting pregnant naturally are virtually zero due to most women going through the menopause between their late 40s and early 50s.
However, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) asserts that any woman, regardless of age, can conceive through medical intervention as long as she has a “normal uterus,” even if she is no longer in possession of ovaries.
Medics use an egg donated by a much younger woman and it is fertilised outside of the body using a man’s sperm. Eventually, the embryo is placed inside the woman’s womb in the hopes that she’ll become pregnant.
However, another Indian woman, Erramatti Mangayamma, is believed to be the oldest after having twin girls in September 2019 at the age of 74.
In Gujurat, India, a little town called Mora, Rabari and Maldhari have been married for 45 years and have been trying to conceive for many years without success. IVF, which is successful after menopause, helped them conceive a child.
The couple’s doctor Naresh Bhanushali said it was “one of the rarest cases I have ever seen”.
Dr Bhanushali said: ‘When they first came to us, we told them that they couldn’t have a child at such an old age, but they insisted.
“They said that many of their family members did it as well. This is one of the rarest cases I have ever seen.”
There have been several instances of women into their 60s and 70s having children through IVF in India.
