Pros and Cons of Late Motherhood

Recently, there have been debates and controversies about older mothers who have successfully delivered babies. This has been made possible through science that allows women to use donor eggs or freeze their eggs and use them when they are ready to conceive.

According to experts at fertility clinics, there is an increasing number of women who are over 40 years seeking fertility treatments.

This is the case for Brigitte Nielsen, a 54-year-old Danish actress who gave birth to a daughter in June. Although this is her fifth child, she has received criticism from people who are of the opinion that it was not necessary.

The Diagram Of Female Reproductive Organs. Photo: Anatomy Of Diagram

We weigh the positive and negative sides of late motherhood.

Advantages

• It gives women the opportunity to experience motherhood despite their age.
• It reiterates the notion that science has indeed made a huge difference in ensuring the safety of post-menopausal women giving birth successfully.
• It makes women feel good about themselves that they can still do such an amazing thing despite their age.

Disadvantages

• There is a risk of genetic imbalance of the child. Most children who suffer Down syndrome is as a result of being given birth to by older women.
• There is a lack of support from peers and family who contemplate on the future of the child if the woman dies.
• In certain cultures, when a woman in her 50s successfully delivers a child at that age, she could face some backlash.
• There is a higher risk of high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes.
  Women feel that the lack of support for this new scientific development is not fair considering that men still father children at the age of 70 years.