Dr. Kirsty Horsey, Progress Educational Trust
11 January 2005
[BioNews, London]
A Romanian woman is set to become the world's oldest mother at the age of 67. Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer, is said to be almost seven months pregnant with twin girls following ten years of fertility treatment. She also underwent hormone treatment for nine years to delay her menopause.In 2003, a 65-year old Indian woman became the oldest woman to give birth. She had used an egg donated from her 26-year old niece, which was fertilised with her husband's sperm. Now, Ms Iliescu is set to beat that record having become pregnant after artificial insemination using donated sperm. Liz Buttle became the UK's oldest mother in 1997 when she had a son at the age of 60.
Ms Iliescu said that she had put all her efforts into having a career and found no time to build relationships or start a family. 'After retiring I regretted it bitterly', she said, adding 'but I never gave up hope'. She continued: 'I believed a woman has a right to give birth and that is why I followed my dream, no matter how old I was'.
But some people are not so happy with the news. Alexandru Manzu, from the Romanian Save The Children charity, said 'Romanian orphanages are full with children - we cannot support cases like this that are only likely to worsen the problem'. He continued: 'What chance has a woman of this age raising her children to adulthood where they can support themselves? She will be 85 when they are 18 and old enough to leave home'.
Meanwhile, another report suggests that the practice of egg donation is on the rise in Romania, with increasing numbers of women choosing to donate eggs to infertile couples. According to the BBC report, women can earn ?150 for each donation, which is the same as the average monthly wage. This has meant that many women from other countries, including the UK, now go to Romania for treatment using donated eggs.
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Reproduced from BioNews with permission, a web- and email-based source of news, information and comment on assisted reproduction and human genetics, published by Progress Educational Trust.