Woman, 57, to bear triplets
A 57-year-old woman is expected to give birth to triplets in Thessaloniki following fertility treatment, doctors said yesterday. The woman, who is in the 32nd week of her pregnancy, is under medical supervision at the northern city’s Ippocrateion Hospital. According to Ioannis Bondis, a Thessaloniki University professor of obstetrics, recent advances in fertility treatment have ensured that women can give birth with relative ease up to the age of 50, although at a later age the process can be more complicated. «Giving birth at the age of 57 is not a very frequent occasion, but it is possible by means of in vitro fertilization with the use of a donor’s egg,» he said. «At that age, pregnancy can have detrimental effects on the body, affecting the cardiovascular and urinary system.» Bondis also pointed out the ethical ramifications of the case. «There is always a dilemma over whether a woman should become a mother at that age,» he said. «However, every couple, and especially every woman, has a right to have a child.»
