An Indian woman has had her first child at the age of 70 after agreeing with her husband to undergo IVF treatment for the last time, making her one of the oldest first-time mothers in the world, the Daily Mail of UK reported.
Jivunben Rabari and her husband Maldhari, 75, proudly showed off their son – whose name they have not revealed – to reporters as they said he had been conceived through IVF.
Rabari told reporters she was 70, which would make her one of the oldest first mothers in the world. However, another Indian woman, Erramatti Mangayamma, is believed to be the oldest after having twin girls in September 2019 at the age of 74.
Rabari and Maldhari, from a small village called Mora in Gujurat, India, have been married for 45 years and have been trying unsuccessfully for a baby for decades.
They were able to have a child through IVF, which can be effective after menopause. The couple’s doctor Naresh Bhanushali said it was “one of the rarest cases I have ever seen.”
Dr Bhanushali said: “When they first came to us, we told them that they couldn’t have a child at such an old age, but they insisted. They said that many of their family members did it as well. This is one of the rarest cases I have ever seen.”
The chances of a woman in her 70s getting pregnant naturally are virtually zero due to most women going through the menopause between their late 40s and early 50s.
But the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) claims that any woman of any age can get pregnant with medical help provided that she has a ‘normal uterus’, even if she no longer has ovaries.
Medics use an egg donated by a much younger woman and it is fertilised outside of the body using a man’s sperm. Eventually, the embryo is placed inside the woman’s womb in the hopes that she’ll become pregnant.
There have been several instances of women into their 60s and 70s having children through IVF in India.
Mangayamma is believed to be the oldest woman in the world to give birth after welcoming twins through IVF aged 74.
Mangayamma gave birth to twin girls in a ‘medical miracle’ on September 5, 2019, following IVF treatments involving a donor’s egg and her husband’s sperm. The pensioner, of Andhra Pradesh state, revealed she was inspired to try for a baby after her 55-year-old neighbour conceived.
Originally published by Nigerian Tribune