Can someone be too old to be a parent? A number of cases last year of single women in their midfifties having children raised this question. The question looks pretty straightforward, but it isn’t. In order to answer it, there must be agreement both on what values would make a potential parent “too old” and on who would enforce a rule that used age to limit access to reproductive technologies.
So, how old is too old? Was Larry King of CNN too old when he had a child with his seventh wife at age seventy? Cheryl Tiegs, who had twins at fifty-two? Geena Davis, twins at forty-eight? Tony Randall, who had a child at seventy-seven and died a few years later? James Doohan (Scotty from the original Star Trek), who had children at eighty? Donald Trump, fifty-eight, now making menacing reproductive noises in the context of his widely publicized third marriage? It is very hard to draw an absolute line and say what age is too old, although the idea of Donald Trump mating makes the project a particularly compelling one.
Assistance in knowing how old is too old has now been provided by a Romanian woman, Adriana Iliescu. The sixty-six-year-old unmarried writer gave birth by an emergency Cesarean section to a baby girl on January 17 at the Giulesti Maternity Hospital in Bucharest. She is now the oldest woman ever to give birth. Her doctor, when asked why he would use reproductive technology to permit a sixty-six-year-old woman to become pregnant, said that is what she wanted to do and that he was impressed with her faith in God and with her “determination.” Giving birth may be what Adriana Iliescu wanted, and she may well be a very determined person of great piety, but the doctor did something highly unethical when he helped her become pregnant. Adriana Iliescu is too old to be having a baby.
So, how old is too old? Was Larry King of CNN too old when he had a child with his seventh wife at age seventy? Cheryl Tiegs, who had twins at fifty-two? Geena Davis, twins at forty-eight? Tony Randall, who had a child at seventy-seven and died a few years later? James Doohan (Scotty from the original Star Trek), who had children at eighty? Donald Trump, fifty-eight, now making menacing reproductive noises in the context of his widely publicized third marriage? It is very hard to draw an absolute line and say what age is too old, although the idea of Donald Trump mating makes the project a particularly compelling one.
Assistance in knowing how old is too old has now been provided by a Romanian woman, Adriana Iliescu. The sixty-six-year-old unmarried writer gave birth by an emergency Cesarean section to a baby girl on January 17 at the Giulesti Maternity Hospital in Bucharest. She is now the oldest woman ever to give birth. Her doctor, when asked why he would use reproductive technology to permit a sixty-six-year-old woman to become pregnant, said that is what she wanted to do and that he was impressed with her faith in God and with her “determination.” Giving birth may be what Adriana Iliescu wanted, and she may well be a very determined person of great piety, but the doctor did something highly unethical when he helped her become pregnant. Adriana Iliescu is too old to be having a baby.
