Current Event For Week of 1/29/07
A 67-year old woman lied to a fertility clinic saying she was only 55 in order to recieve treatment because the cut off age was 55. Read about the article and discuss whether you think it is fair to have a cut off age to have children or if it is the woman's decision.
Read the article here
Read the article here
posted by phs_sociology at 7:26 AM
27 Comments:
I believe the clinic has a cut off age of 55 as a safety precaution for the women. At ages over 55, it has scientifically been proven that the mother will have complications threatening both her and her child's life. At 67, these complications could have been much worse than what they were.
Now that the babies have been born and our healthy, they will suffer many emotional issues. Their mother will probably die before they have children, and she may not even be able to care for them their whole childhood.
I recognize that it is fair to have a cutoff age. It a woman wants to get pregneant without the clinic, than thats her own decision and I would respect that.
It is also the clinics fault for not requesting ID.
I think that it is the womens decision when she wants to have kids. If shes old but still wants to have or start a family then its all up to her. They may have the cut off age of 55 to protect the mother but its still her chioce. If the clinic has the cut off age at 55 then they should be responsible enough to check the ID of the person.
i think that its a good idea to have the cut off at age 55 for a safty precaution. since she is older it will be really hard for her to take care of the children. there is also the chance that the mother will die in a few years adn will not be able to care for the children as she had planned.
I personally think that the women should not be able to have kids at that age mainly because of the health risk and precaution not just for the child but for the women herself. She could easily end up havin a risk of death while giving birth to this child. She is way to old to have a child and the fact that she lied about her age to the fertility clinic is abserd and she should be put to jail. But the clinic also should have taken responsibility as well because she should have had to show some sort of Identification unless it was a fake one and of course the clinic did not ask her for any so therefore it is the clinics fault to. I agree to the whole cutoff age and what not, but if the clinic would of asked this women for I.D. than I think this women should be penalized or smething for the fact that she did lie. Well in the end it all turned out alright and the babys are healthy and with the OLD "liar". mother
I think that there should be a cut-off age. I do because if there's no cut-off age then women who are 80 could still be having children. This wouldn't be fair to the children, because their parent(s) would be having health problems along with the problems that come just of old-age. The parents wouldn't be able to stay with the child until they are at least 18. If the mother would die then the child would be forced into adoption or other care and that's not frught or just at all.
Honestly i don't care how old the person is and i would say heck yea go a head and have kids but i do believe the cutt off age is good because there could be some really bad problems for some one who is that old.
I think the kids will lose there mother before they get old enough to take care of themselves and even then it would be hard without a mom.
I think that the clinic has a right to have a cut off limit..and personally i thik 55 is even a bit too old. it is proved that the older you get the more at risk you are to harm the baby or yourself. If the guy said that they check ID's...they how did they not catch that she was older then 55? Hopefully though,since the mistake was already made, the lady will raise her childrn correctly and they will be healthy.
I think it makes sense that the try to protect women and try to keep them from having kids after a certain age. Yet, i think its wrong that they would refuse help to people over a certain age, because its their choice whether or not they want to have kids and they should still be able to get care. and obviously some women can have kids over the age of 55 because that lady did and she made it threw the pregnancy, so it is wrong to have an age cut off.
I think it was wrong for the woman to lie. I understand why she lied but i also understand why there is an age limit. With being 67 and pregnant it is very dangerous for you and the baby because of the health problems that might occur. They are only trying to protect you by making an age limit, so i dont disagree with it. But what are we going to do if they do make the decision to get pregnant and have a baby? we can't kill them. I think people need to make good decisions about having babies.
There is a cut off age for a reason and I think she should have observed it. It is there because pregnancy for a woman over a certain age has a lot of risks. The clinic should have asked for ID and that is there own fault for not doing their job properly. I think that the cut off age is necessary for protecting the clinic against lawsuits. The woman should not have lied about her age and if she wanted to get pregnant so bad she should have done it on her own. If a woman decides to have a child at an older age that is her own decision and she is entering it under the understanding that there is risks.
i think that it is a womens choice when were and how she gets pregneant and i strongly believe that no one should be able to tell a women that she can not have children just becasue it is harmful to her and her child that is her risk to take and no one elses!if she decides that even with the high risks that she wants to go through with the pregneancy then that is her choice.and i especially dont think that people should discrimmante against single women i know some women who are extremely good single mothers. and as far as the clinic not requesting ID well i personally dont think they should becasue a women shouldn't have to lie about her age just so the doctor will treat her!
Due to scientific studies that suggest that women over a certain age are more likely to give birth to mentally handicapped infants, I think that the age limit of 55 at the clinic is completely justified. After a certain age, women are no longer healthy enough to bare healthy children. It is not so much a case of the senior citizen mother having children but the potential risks that the children could face. I am not saying that mentally handicapped or unhealthy children are less worthy to live, but if you can prevent it, why bring a child into this world just to suffer?
If the woman gets pregnant on her own terms, fine, but why actually go through treatment to increase fertility knowing the possible risks?
I think a cut off age is a good idea, but I don't think it is physically possible. The cut off at the clinic Carmela Bousada went to was 55, but she could get the treatment by just lying about her age.
I think this issue is a lot like abortion. If the country bans abortion, then people are just going to be doing it illegally, with a greater chance of hurting themselves in the process. If abortion was banned, it's not like people who aren't ready to have children will stop having sex. The same goes with the age limit. What will happen if they do have the cut off age and you are too old? Are they supposed to get an abortion? But wait, they are trying to illegalize that in our country.
Carmela Bousada said it was her dream to have children of her own. I think she made three horrible decisions along the way (waiting until she was 66 to have children, wanting to find a younger man to raise the children with her instead of doing this in the first place, and him being the bilogical father, and then lying about her age). She knew she was at danger, but she was taking risks to achieve her dream.
Although i don't agree with a lot that she did, I do give her credit for all she went through. I think it was stupid for her to risk her life to have the children, and she should've had children sooner, but I think she had the right to have the children.
The cut off age seems to just encourage women over 55 to not have chidren (since they don't even bother to check identification for the woman's age). This cut off is probably just an insurance disclaimer because of the threatening complications of the pregnancy and birth. I believe if the mother realizes these cautions and still wants to have a baby, then it is her choice.
i believe that it is the woman's choice whether she wants to have babies or not but i also think that deciding to have kids at the age of 67 totally lacks common sense. it is very unsafe to have children at that age. i think that collapsing in a supermarket proves it. also, a woman that is more concerned about wearing a bikini than letting the doctor decide how to make an incision has to be completely out of her mind. her children probably wont even be out of high school by the time she dies. my question is whether or not this woman actually thought about these things before she did what she did
i believe that the hospitals should have a cutoff age. it is there to try to discourage woman from getting pregnant at such an old age and making the hospital deal with the complications. the hospital should have taken her id. the doctor said they check id's but if they really did check them then she wouldnt have been there. they would have treated her for collapsing but if they also helped her during her pregnancy then other old women who are pregnant will think that they should be able to give birth in the hospital too
I have to agree with the fact that they should cut off at 55. More than anything they should make it younger than that. You have to take into account the age of the child vs. that of the parent. What might happen if the child is very young and the parent very old? More than likely it would be the child having to take care of the parent at a very young age, meaning that either they would become very independent or very restricted.
although it is a woman's decision to have a baby at 67, i still think the center should have ran some sort of background check and health records. i don't understand why she put herself and her unborn children in danger. there would probably be some doctor out their willing to help despite her true age, if she had just looked. i also can't imagine what it will be like for the children growing up and have an elderly mother who may not be able to care for the properly.
I think it should be the womens decision just like it is her decision for an abortion or to devote at least 18 years of her life with the child, but I'm not really sure what 66 yearold women didn't hit metopause. But I don't think a cut-off age should be llegal.
I don't think the clinic should have an age limit. Its not up to them when the lady is supossed to have a baby. so what does it matter. it should be when the person is ready to have a baby and maybe she wasn't ready until then.
I think that the hospital has every right to put an age limit because they have a good reason for it, as the risk of having a mentally handicapped child is great.There is the ethical question of having a child when we know that, unfortunately, the child will live only few years with his mother. Let us imagine that this 67-year-old woman gives birth to an infant with a real disability and that requires him to be followed, watched or helped most of his life. This woman has the right to have the child but sadly, if she dies 10 years later she will leave her child an orphan.
This is only an example but I believe it is a stupid risk to make. After a certain age it is a bad choice for a woman to have a child.
I think that the babies should be taken away from her. It would not be right for her to get to raise those kids, considering that she lied about her age to get them and now she wants to raise them. She is too old and will probably die soon, and when that happens what will the kids do. They will be without a parent and so they should be put into foster care early so that they dont have to deal with the certain lose of thier mother within thier childhood. The mother should be punished for not telling the truth about her age to the ferility clinic as well.
Well personally, I do not believe that there should be a cut off age for women to have children. Especially since every woman ages differentsly. I think that the mother should have the choice of giving birth, knowing the circumstances and risks. It is scientifically proven that the older a mother gets, the more chance of the baby having birth defects and problems, I think that the mother should have the choice with the understanding of this. I personally don't think that the mother/father are going to love the kid anymore or less.
I think the clinic should have the cut off age at 55 because the child could have complications and it could be a health risk to both the mother and the child. Also I don't think it is right to the children that the mother will probably not be able to take care of them in 10 years or so.
I think that the clinic has a right to have the cut off age at 55. They are only looking out for the best intrest for the woman and for the future baby. if the woman is older it will be harder for her to take care of the baby and also if both the father and mother pass away who will take care of the baby? however it is partially the clinics fault because they should check for id. because any old person could lie about their age and if there are complications with the baby or the woman they could blame it on the clinic. yes it is the mothers decision to have a baby but the clinic is just looking out for the woman.
I agree with the clinics cut off age of 55. I believe this is a good age because of the chances of complications. I believe that mothers older than that are too old to care for children. When this ladies children reach their highschool years, there is a good chance that they will be caring for her more than she is able to care for them. But I also believe that the clinic should've made her show idenity and proof of her age.
In a way it is unfair that they have a cut-off age. We are the U.S. what happened to the freedom that we have, they have no right to make the cut-off. As long as the woman is still fertile and has the chance to have a child then what right does the place have to tell her no she can't. Maybe she never thought that she was ready enough to have a child until now, and it's her choice if she wants to have a child at her age.
I think that there should not be a cut off age. If someeone wants a child then there should be no problem getting one. The clinic was the irresponsible one. They did not do enough research on the woman to find out her real age. If they are going to have a problem then it should be with the womans health not their age.
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