A 67-year-old Romanian has become the oldest woman to give birth, fuelling an ethical, medical and religious debate about fertility treatment. Adriana Iliescu gave birth to a daughter who weighed 1.4 kilograms and was delivered by caesarean section after a twin embryo died in the womb.
Sunday's birth came six weeks before the university professor was due to have the child. She started fertility treatment at the age of 58. Mrs Iliescu finally conceived last May, but she and her doctors kept the news secret until she gave an interview to a Romanian TV station in December announcing she was pregnant with twin girls. The revelation prompted outrage in some quarters and celebration in others.
The mother-to-be made an emotional defence. While critics complained she would be too old to watch her children grow up, she insisted that her family had a history of longevity. At her Bucharest hospital, doctors said the surviving infant was in intensive care but breathing independently. "The mother is doing well," a spokesman said. "She is saying she has been given a new lease of life."
The Romanian Orthodox Church gave the birth its blessing, but some doctors have been outraged. The head of Romania's medical ethics board said such a controversial procedure should have been debated before conception. The previous oldest woman to give birth had a son 10 years ago when she was 62.
