A Child Against All Odds

Is it a product of consumer society that we think we have a right to anything we want, including a child?

I’m really not sure about that. There is no question, as I know myself, that having a child of your own is completely life-changing. It’s the most enriching experience that one can have. I think what tended to happen in the past was that the devastation of not having children was brushed under the psyche, but now technology can do something about it, and that must be a good thing. So I am very much in favour of the technology, but I realise there often comes a point where we have to accept that we can’t go further.

How old is too old? What’s your personal view?

In the series I interview Adriana Iliescu, who at 66 was the oldest women ever to have a baby, and I end up arguing that it’s very difficult to make a judgement against her. I think the programme shows my coming to terms with some difficult ethical issues. I don’t think any age is too old, but I think we’ll become increasingly reluctant to treat people in their 50s because that’s beyond the age of the natural menopause.

It’s been predicted that within ten years one in three couples may be infertile. How realistic a prediction is that?

I doubt it very much. At present about one in ten couples is infertile, but there’s little evidence that infertility has increased much over the past five decades. There is a rising incidence of infertility as we get older. As women compete more with men, a growing number of younger women are beginning to realise the implications of staying as bankers, or doctors, or nurses, or secretaries, or whatever it might be. We see an awful lot of couples where the woman is infertile because they’ve just left it a bit late.