Britain's
oldest mother-to-be appeals for privacy
ctv.ca.com
May 3, 2006
A 63-year-old child psychiatrist who is set to become Britain's oldest
mother sought to defend her decision against accusations of selfishness
on Thursday, saying she takes her responsibility as a parent seriously.
"We're delighted with the pregnancy," Patricia Rashbrook, who is seven
months pregnant, told reporters Thursday.
"We take our responsibility very seriously and regard the best interest
of the child as paramount. What we would wish now is the right to
pursue our family life in private."
When asked whether she was too old to have a child, she replied: "No
comment."
Earlier, Rashbrook and her husband John Farrant, 61, issued a joint
statement, saying: "We wish to emphasize that this has not been an
endeavour undertaken lightly or without courage."
"A great deal of thought has been given to planning and providing for
the child's present and future wellbeing, medically, socially and
materially."
Controversial Italian fertility doctor, Severino Antinori, said he only
treated Rashbrook in an unnamed former Soviet republic after she
underwent strict medical examinations.
Antinori has told reporters that she and her husband first visited him
three years ago at his clinic in Rome, where he specializes in treating
older women.
Details are sketchy but it's believed that Rashbrook, who is from
Lewes, East Sussex, was given the treatment last October and it was
successful at the first attempt, using a single embryo.
Antinori told Reuters that Rashbrook was "perfect" for the treatment,
because although she was 62 at the time, she had a biological age of
about 45.
Antinori said age 62 or 63 was the maximum age for in vitro
fertilization in healthy women.
He dismissed criticism that Rashbrook was too old to become a parent,
telling the wire agency: "She should live for at least 20 to 25 years
-- we are not giving birth to an orphan."
Antinori gained notoriety in 1994 when he helped a post-menopausal
Italian woman in her early 60s give birth following fertility treatment
with a donated egg.
He has said in the past he aimed to be the first to produce a baby
cloned from an adult.
In 1997, Welsh woman Liz Buttle became Britain's oldest mother at the
age of 60.
The oldest woman in the world to become a mother is believed to be
66-year-old Romanian Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth to a daughter last
year after IVF treatment.
Rashbrook's pregnancy has sparked criticism from some groups.
Josephine Quintavalle, from the London-based Comment on Reproductive
Ethics, said: "It is extremely difficult for a child to have a mother
who is as old as a grandmother would be. "It is just that consumer
society that wants absolutely everything, and never stops to think that
a child is not a product. She is being selfish and sometimes greater
love is saying no."
Campaign group Life also warned that Rashbrook's pregnancy was not in
the best interests of the child.
"We see this just as another component in our culture where children
are treated as a means to an end," said spokesman Matthew O'Gorman said.
"Quite simply, the child is not being looked after properly - one is
not genuinely having regard for the welfare of the child.
"He or she is going to be without a mother or father at the most
crucial moment of adolescence or when that child is growing to
maturity. This is not the way to bring a child into the world."
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