Older Women want babies too!

Don't you love it when the media uses words such 'soars'! The best one is 'more than doubles'. It sets the heart beating faster. two multiplied by 2 is 4. Now depending on context four is not a big number and nor is five, but 'more than doubles' is 'massive'! And so we have the headline for the numbers of women over 50 having babies.

It has 'soared' according to a headline in the Guardian - and they know what soaring is. It has indeed 'more than doubled' from 69 in 2008 to 159 in 2012. Then of course we get the speculation. It will continue to rise at the same rate. And then we get the doom and gloom. It will all be very bad and put pressure on scarce resources. Older women have more complications in child birth. Indeed they do - but not all older women. In truth there are more younger women having children than older women and some of them have complications too!

It is all part of this scare tactic about pregnancy. We are led to believe that these older women are in some way being careless or even selfish in wanting children at that age. In truth they are being no more or less selfish than any younger woman wanting children. Of course there are risks but women know that and quite frankly they still want the happiness and fulfilment of having children. They are not selfish - they are human and the Obstetricians can handle it!

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The Thin End

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