Should women over 50 have NHS funded fertility treatment?
It was reported in the Daily Mail this week, that women in their 50s are having fertility treatment paid for by the NHS.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said up to 12 such women were granted IVF funding over a three-year period.
Campaigners said that public money should instead go on telling women how hard it was to get pregnant in their 50s.
This comes in the same week when we are being told that the government will stop funding 25 cancer treatments as part of its efforts to stem the soaring costs.
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: ‘We’d be better spending money educating women about the reality of reproduction. Fertility starts to dip mid-thirties and by 50 it’s at the menopausal stage.’
What are your views … are women today not aware of their own biological time clock? Due to the pressures of work and equal opportunities are women leaving it too late to start a family? Is the age of 50 too old to be starting a family?
What are your views?
We'd love to hear your comments
Log in to comment
You need to be logged in to interact with Silversurfers. Please use the button below if you already have an account.
LoginNot a member?
You need to be a member to interact with Silversurfers. Joining is free and simple to do. Click the button below to join today!
JoinCommunity Terms & Conditions
Content standards
These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site (contributions), and to any interactive services associated with it.
You must comply with the spirit of the following standards as well as the letter. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.
Contributions must:
be accurate (where they state facts); be genuinely held (where they state opinions); and comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.
Contributions must not:
contain any material which is defamatory of any person; or contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory; or promote sexually explicit material; or promote violence; promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; or infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person; or be likely to deceive any person; or be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence; or promote any illegal activity; or be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety; or be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person; or be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person; or give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case; or advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
Nurturing a safe environment
Our Silversurfers community is designed to foster friendships, based on trust, honesty, integrity and loyalty and is underpinned by these values.
We don't tolerate swearing, and reserve the right to remove any posts which we feel may offend others... let's keep it friendly!
Both my parents died at age 78. My Dad had a horrendous stroke and languished on for 6months. I found it very hard to cope with at age 48. Never mind 20 years earlier (paying off
student debt, trying to get a career together, maybe with a
young family etc). What a selfish person you've got to be to
inflict the problems of ill health and death on a young person!
all because you want to reproduce yourself. If someone is so
desperate for a child why can't they adopt an older child or a
teenager.
How offensive!
On a more general note; surely the NHS has enough to pay out, without giving IVF treatment to women who would not naturally be having babies at that age.
It would not be fair on the child, who might find themselves orphaned while still at a vulnerable age when they would still need parental care and guidance.
Anyone who knows about children realises that it's a young woman's game. As the child grows towards 20 ....what then ?
My son is now 7 and I adore him....I am active and he keeps me young but after work and taking care of him I am most definitely ready for my bed in the evening 🙂
I could not imagine coping with him at this age this in my 50's (hoping its more watching him in sports when he is a teenager rather than running around kicking a ball with him or out cycling lol)
I understand the desperation of wanting to be a parent (its heart-breaking) but a child needs a parent that can keep up, its unfair to them.
I would not dare seeing myself in that situation... As some say: we can create our own troubles !
For me we'd be better off using the money for other things