Maria del Carmen Bousada
A Spanish woman, Maria del Carmen Bousada, deceived a U.S. fertility clinic about her age, then became the oldest woman to give birth. She has died at 69 leaving her 2-year-old twins behind. They were born in December 2006. And I thought I was an old dad at 53!
Maria del Carmen Bousada is not, however, the oldest woman to give birth.
I think that honor would go to Sarah, wife of Abraham. See Genesis 17.
Sarah was 90 years old when she bore Isaac.
No doubt, some of the more ancient folks, pre-flood wives were even older. Back then they lived in a perfect world and could do that sort of thing.
With Sarah, it was a miracle.
With Maria, it was a lie and a miracle that modern science performs...sorta.
Comments
Why are we comparing an actual birth to something from the Bible? This incident cannot even be proven! Did they even measure years the same as we do now? Anyway - still neat that she was able to carry the babies and everything. I don't believe she should have lied. She could have adopted if she wanted children. Deception isn't the best way.
What a funny world we live in. In the end, she had joy and her children have beautiful lives - yes, they have this predictable heartache but they can also have much joy ahead. Who are we to judge? Babies are born to people every day who don't love them, want them or know how to care for them. Babies are conceived and then aborted silently. Certainly, this is not the ideal situation - but what is? I've seen people say that since menopause occurs around 55 it's nature's way of saying women should not have children after that age. Yet fathers routinely can. And never mind that since menstruation starts at - what's the average age now? 10 years old? - then by the same logic we should support these young girls in HAVING children. Finally, to say "she'll never get to see them get to 18" - 18 is an ARBITRARY number. Think of what she DID get to see - new life, first smiles, first steps, first words. And I'm sure she did her best to enjoy every minute, and to plan properly for this eventuality
She was selfish and this was not a "wonderful" thing that she did. People want to compare her with women who have babies and mistreat them, but this is different. This woman had to know at 66, she had a very low possibility of seeing these children grow to adulthood. This business of just bringing life into the world to satisfy your "desire" without any thought to the effect on the "objects of your desire" is not only unconscionable, its also intensely unfair to the children. They will eventually realize they were only born to satisfy an old woman's dream of giving birth. God Bless and Keep these children. May their lives be rich and fulfilling and may they forgive that foolish old woman one day.
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