Giving birth to ethical problems, Just because old folks can have babies doesn't mean they should

Giving birth to ethical problems
Just because old folks can have babies doesn't mean they should

Calgary Herald
Published: Monday, February 09, 2009

The birth of twin boys to a post-menopausal Calgary woman is an ethical quagmire on many fronts, especially in the burden it places on the children themselves.
At a time when most adults are called upon to look after their elderly parents, these boys will be mere teenagers, if not younger, when they face caretaking responsibilities for their senior parents.
Ranjit Hayer and husband Jagir are 60 years old. The miracle babies might be a dream come true for the couple, but they rep-resent a bioethical nightmare for medical experts and society at large.

If there's anything good about this scenario, it's that Canadian doctors refused to treat the woman, who received donated eggs.
Depending on the fertility clinic, Canadian women between 45 and 50 are not eligible for in vitro treatment.
The couple had tried to conceive for the past 40 years and did so only thanks to in vitro fertilization with donor eggs.
This modern-day wonder of medical science, though, occurred in India, a country that has far different standards and regulations than the West --but Canada will pick up the health-care costs for the high-risk pregnancy and C-section delivery at the Foothills Hospital.
It's a tragic fact that human eggs have become commodified as a profoundly exploitive trade in Third World countries. A whole industry known as fertility tourism has arisen in India, and it has grown at the expense of desperately poor women, who are paid nearly nothing to sell their eggs. They often do so in shame and in silence, without their loved ones ever knowing. They also place themselves at risk. Who knows what medical harm the biological mother was subjected to during the extraction and selling of her eggs?
Depending on who she is, the children may never learn their medical history. Considering their entrance into the world as preemies, this missing information could become crucial should they encounter medical complications later in life.
As for their emotional welfare, psychological damage could result from the unfortunate circumstances of their birth, as is often the result of genetic bewilderment, the term used to describe an identity crisis arising from ignorance of one's genetic history.
The couple's deep desire to have a child is understandable, as is the heartbreak they must have experienced during their years of unsuccessful attempts. Their cultural norms, too, must have placed tremendous pressure on them to produce children.
Still, at 60, the Hayers should have accepted the fact they weren't destined to have children naturally.
Pregnancy at that age is unnatural. They will be seniors raising kindergartners and possibly infirm when the kids reach adolescence, a time when children especially need the attention of their parents. Even if there is a large and devoted extended family to look after these boys, after the parents are gone, no one can replace a mother or a father, especially during the early formative years.
There's a reason menopause occurs.
At some point, humans become too old to chase after small children, which requires a tremendous amount of physical and mental energy.
This is the latest in a number of questionable births involving elderly parents. The real issue is reproductive technology has moved faster than the ethics and regulations governing fertility procedures. Now is the time for sober reflection to be turned upon the rights of children, and what is in their best interests in these types of circumstances.

© The Calgary Herald 2009
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