Is it right?

That’s what I’m asking myself after reading that a 62-year-old British woman has become pregnant through IVF. I’m thinking it’s not right. Sure people have a right to have children and they should not be stopped based on age but modern science advances have led us to a situation where, when the kid is just 10 years old, his/her mother will be 72. I’m sorry but that’s just crazy. The BBC story quotes the mother as saying:

We would not have gone ahead if we’d felt we would not be good enough parents.

I don’t doubt peoples ability to be good parents but you have to be alive to be a good parent and the likelihood is that when the kid is 18, his/her parents will have passed on. Apparently the couple also has younger friends with children who have agreed to act as surrogate parents in the event of their death. Is that really a fair burden to put on your friends and your son/daughter. I believe the biological clock is there for a reason and that “advances” such as this will only lead to hurt in the long term for a son/daughter who will never have their parents at their marriage/child’s christening etc. True that a lot of people have to live with that through bereavement but I really can’t see the rationale behind this couples decision.