Indian Woman Gives Birth at Age 70
(Dec. 8) - A 70-year-old Indian woman gave birth to a girl last month, apparently becoming the world’s oldest mother, a report said Monday. Rajo Devi gave birth Nov. 28 after undergoing in vitro fertilization, The Telegraph newspaper in Britain reported.
Rao Devi, 70, holds her daughter Monday at the Hisar fertility clinic in India. She gave birth to her first child on Nov. 28 after undergoing in vitro fertilization. She said she and her husband had longed for a child during 50 years of marriage. "We are very happy to have one in the twilight years of our life," The Telegraph quoted her as saying.
"We longed for a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one in the twilight years of our life," she said, according to the Telegraph. The newspaper quoted Dr. Anurag Bishnoi of the Hisar fertility center in Haryana state as saying that Devi and her 72-year-old husband, Bala Ram, came to the facility for treatment.
"Both the mother and child are in good health," Bishnoi said. The doctor did not disclose whose egg or sperm was used in the procedure. The Telegraph said Devi and her husband had been married 50 years. After 10 years of childless marriage, he wed his wife's sister, but there were no children from that union, it said.
The new father said he wasn't worried about what would happen to the baby if he and his wife died before she grows up. "The upbringing of the child is not a problem. We have a joint family as is common in rural Haryana," he said.
Previously, the world's oldest mother was believed to be a Spanish woman. Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara gave birth to twins in December 2006, days before her 67th birthday. She allegedly admitted that she lied about her age in order to receive fertility treatment from a U.S. clinic.
