The world's oldest mother died last week. She was a Spanish woman who gave birth to twins when she was 67. But cancer took her life just three years after giving birth. This week's family segment will explore the issue of starting a family later in life. Joining The Takeaway is Lisa Belkin, who wrote about the issue in The New York Times blog
Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting.
Also joining us is journalist Karen Day, a 56-year-old mother of a three-year-old, who also has three other children.
Read an article that Karen Day wrote Why Have a Baby After 50?
Comments [2]
i think if you truly love your spouse and want to make things happen, FINE, but take the time to find out if you REALLY ARE COMMITTED TO THAT PERSON ENOUGH TO HAVE HIS BABY AT SUCH AN ADVANCED STAGE IN LIFE, AND KEEP THAT FAMILY TOGETHER FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILD. I UNDERSTAND THAT KAREN DAY AND HUSBAND ARE DIVORCED, SO NOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BABY? HE GETS PASSED AROUND AND FOUGHT OVER. OH BOY! MAYBE MODERN SCIENCE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN, BUT SHOULD IT?
I'm from Detroit and as a woman who lost her mother at a young age I disagree with these elderly women having babies. I think that if they're healthy enough and they're doing it for other people who perhaps can't have children it's very admirable, but not if they're doing it for themselves to fulfill some void in their life that is simply kind of cool to the children because they aren't giving them the time that every child really needs. I want nothing more than to have been able to spend more time with my mother who died young and grow old with her and I just think that if they really want to nurture a child, perhaps looking into maybe adoption or foster care or something to or even volunteering would be a better alternative than to bring more children into this world that are only going to be lost without more parents.
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