A 65-year-old German woman who has 13 children and who is pregnant with quadruplets is being "irresponsible," writes a bioethics expert and author.
In a
story for NBC News, Arthur Caplan argues that Annegret Raunigk broke the laws of ethics by choosing to become pregnant with her 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th children.
A school teacher in Berlin, Raunigk got pregnant through a process that involved donated eggs. A clinic in Ukraine fertilized and implanted the eggs.
"Some media outlets have trotted out the usual fluffy descriptions of 'miracle' and 'gift' while trying to figure out if she is the oldest woman ever to have a child (she isn't) or to have quadruplets (almost certainly she is)," Caplan writes. "But this line of reporting completely misses the mark.
"What she is doing is unethical."
According to Caplan, the infertility treatment Raunigk used is illegal in Germany for someone her age.
She told German media that her youngest daughter, who is 9, wanted to have a little brother or sister.
It took several attempts before Raunigk became pregnant this time around. The four babies are due in the summer, and they will make Raunigk the world's oldest mother of quadruplets.
Caplan argues Raunigk is being "irresponsible" for several reasons: She probably won't live long enough to properly raise the new children; there are increased risks in the pregnancy because of her age; and her own body is more susceptible to things like heart disease, arthritis, stroke, and blindness at 65.
"Making four kids in a 65-year-old body also is irresponsible. The quadruplets are likely to be premature and, if they survive, may pay a steep price for this decision in terms of their health," Caplan writes. "Her older body makes the pregnancy extremely high risk all the way around. There will be a C-section, which is dangerous for her. And there certainly will be no breast-feeding by mom.
"In short, the health hazards that come with carrying four fetuses to term at 21 are big. At 65, Raunigk seems to have entered a world of indifference as to what is likely to happen to her four babies."
Caplan also takes issue with the clinic that agreed to treat Raunigk.
"And what clinic would agree to accept as a patient a woman with 13 children — simply because her daughter wants a sibling?" he writes. "What clinic would not insist on a surrogate mom? What clinic would not demand she stay nearby during the pregnancy? What clinic would even let her try to deliver four fetuses?
"The answer: one looking to gain fame and clients by engaging in a publicity stunt with nascent lives."
The results of a study released last month, meanwhile, showed that babies conceived through
in vitro fertilization are twice as likely to have autism. The study included nearly 6 million babies born from 1997 to 2007.
Another study found the use of
antibiotics during a pregnancy increases a child's risk of having asthma.
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