Susan Tollefsen is seeking approval to try for a second-child with IVF at the age of 59.

Reports today (18 January) that a 59-year-old woman is seeking approval to have a baby using in vitro fertilisation (IVF) by a private London clinic has angered a number of campaigners.

Two-years ago British woman Susan Tollefsen gave birth to a daughter, Freya, after receiving IVF treatment from a Russian fertility centre.

She is now seeking IVF to enable her to have a second child and has received initial approval from the London Women’s Clinic in Harley Street, but is waiting on full approval from the clinic’s governance committee. 

In the UK, the NHS does not give IVF to women over 40 and private clinics generally do not approve IVF for women over 50. According to statistics on the success rates of the fertility treatment, while women aged under 35 have a success rate of 29%, this drops dramatically for women over 44 to just 1%.

If Mrs Tollefsen is given the go-ahead it would make her the UK’s oldest woman to receive IVF treatment.

She told the Daily Telegraph: “I have always accepted that I would come up against a great deal of people who would be very negative about what we are doing.
“However, I think that when you look at the kind of loving and caring family we are, you have to ask: why should we be denied the opportunity to have another child and to give our daughter a sibling?

“However, my partner is 11 years younger than me, so I know that even if I am not around in the years to come, Nick would be and so our children would have their father to bring them up.”

Michaela Aston, of national charity Life, claims the decision to try for another child is “irresponsible parenting”. She told the Daily Mail: “This is a woman who will be of pensionable age by the time the child is born. The child will be subject to ridicule.

“Conceiving a child outside of the natural sphere of things, particularly over 60, is not responsible at all.”

However Clare Lewis-Jones, Chief Executive of the charity, Infertility Network UK, said although there are good clinical reasons for restricting IVF treatment, each case should be judged on its individual merits.

Many children are born across the world to parents who may well be considered the ‘right age’ but who treat them with little respect or love, all we need to do is look back at the example of Baby Peter ^[1].

So if Susan Tollefsen can give her children the love that they deserve in a safe, loving environment then who are we to stand in her way. She is only in her late 50’s and according to the Office for National Statistics; the average life expectancy for a woman in the UK is 81 years old.

On the other hand, should Mrs Tollefsen not consider the implications for her children should she die early or fall ill as she grows older. Although the children have a father 11 years younger than their mother, it is not pleasant for anyone to have to bury a parent no matter what age, but especially so if they haven’t lived a full life with them.

Other campaigners against Mrs Tollefsen’s plight say her children could suffer at the hand of bullies with an older mother. However, as news reports show on an almost daily basis, bullies don’t discriminate on a child’s parents’ age, they bully for all sorts of reasons.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the private London clinic should help Mrs Tollefsen towards having a second child, despite her age? Or should she withdraw her application on the basis of the long-term effects on the as-yet unborn child?