Age no barrier for pregnancy: Expert

150 experts from India,UK and the Middle East attended the conference that was inaugurated by Lord Winston,a leading gynaecologist here.

According to Pandiyan,age should not be a barrier for women who seek motherhood and women who are fit enough to bear a child should not be discouraged whatever their age be.

“Any woman who is fit enough to go through pregnancy and childbirth should be offered that opportunity by all available means. Arguing that she may not live to see her child through teenage years is specious,” he said.

“Many women who were denied motherhood for medical reasons are now having successful pregnancies and deliveries; women with kidney diseases,juvenile diabetes,liver or kidney transplant and more,” he said.

Dr Pandiyan,who started the department of reproductive medicine at Apollo Hospitals is also the co-founder of the IVF unit there. He noted that “nobody has defined how old is too old to have a child.”

“Should pregnancy be denied to all post menopausal woman,would that apply to women with premature menopause too,” he asked.

The medic got the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarships awarded by UK between 1985 and 1987 and worked as a research fellow at the University Hospital in Queen’s Medical Centre,Nottingham.

Emphasising that sex and reproduction are fundamental rights of every individual,the expert also said that “where the society cannot give the necessary help due to financial,resource or religious constraints,it should at least stay away from interfering when individuals try to achieve their goals by rightful means.

“To legislate motherhood on the basis of age would not only be unsuccessful but would drive couples to seek treatment elsewhere”,he said.

Pandiyan added that the decision on when to have a child should be taken only by the couple in consultation with a doctor and the fertility centre.