In France, triplets are born to a woman of 59
September 16, 2008
Donated eggs from another country contribute the unusual birth in Paris.
In France, hospital administrators announced last week that a 59-year-old woman gave birth to triplets. Her age made her the oldest known mother of triplets. The woman had obtained donated eggs outside of France, since she was above the age limit allowed under French law for being eligible to receive eggs from egg donors. French law concerning egg donation excludes women over 42 from access to the IVF procedure, and limits the number of embryos implanted to reduce the chances of multiple births. The 59-year-old woman in France is of Asian origin and had fertility treatment in Vietnam.
The Paris public hospital network says two boys and a girl born to the woman weighed between 4 pounds 9 ounces and 5 pounds 5 ounces and measured between 18.1-18.5 inches. The delivery was performed last weekend by Caesarean section, hospital officials said Monday, and the babies were described as healthy.
The woman’s pregnancy prompted controversy in France and elsewhere. The law in France against older women receiving IVF treatment is to restrict fertility treatments to healthy women considered to be of natural childbearing age, rather than to prolong the possibility of childbearing beyond the age considered to be safe or “natural.” The restriction in France prompts women desperate to bear children to visit countries with less strict rules on IVF donated egg implantation, giving rise to the phenomenon known as “fertility tourism.”
The previous oldest mother of triplets is thought to be an unidentified Italian woman of 57.
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