A Tasmanian woman has reportedly given birth to a baby girl, making her Australia’s oldest ever mother.
The child is believed to be the woman’s first. Her partner is 78.
The woman reportedly gave birth by caesarean section at Melbourne’s Frances Perry House private hospital on Monday.
The baby was premature but is believed to be in good health.
According to Seven News the couple tried multiple times to have children including several failed in-vitro fertilisation attempts. The pair finally conceived through IVF overseas, using a donor embryo.
The couple however have been labeled “irresponsible” for getting pregnant at such a late age.
“I think getting people of that age pregnant is irresponsible,” Monash University professor Gab Kovacs told the Herald Sun.
“That child will need looking after for 20 years, and there’s a possibility she won’t be able to do that.
“Our bodies weren’t designed to have children in our 60s. I don’t think any responsible IVF unit in Australia would treat someone of that age, and it’s not a standard of medicine I would condone”.
The previous record in Australia was held by a 60-year-old woman who gave birth in 2010, and a 50-year-old is believed to be the oldest woman to give birth to a naturally conceived baby.
