59-year-old Chinese woman has baby by IVF because she was 'lonely'

A 59-year-old woman in China has become the oldest woman in her city to give birth after undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) because she is lonely.

Key Takeaways:

• The woman, referred to only by her surname of "Zou," gave birth on January 9 to a baby boy via c-section at Zhangjiagang No 1 People’s Hospital in eastern Jiangsu province.

• She and her husband have an adult daughter, who lives abroad.

• Zou said with her daughter living away from them, she is "lonely," and therefore wanted to have another baby.

The Details:

The South China Morning Post reported that Zou and her husband missed their daughter, and that was their motivation for having another child. “My daughter lives abroad. As time goes by, my husband and I often feel lonely,” she said.

Due to her age, Zou required a lot of preparation to undergo IVF.

“Zou is 59 and is a super old pregnant woman, with the risks of pregnancy complications and an abnormal foetus increasing remarkably,” said Guo Huiping, a senior obstetrician at the hospital.

Despite this, Zou was still approved for IVF and did experience numerous health problems. Her blood pressure became dangerously high, she had problems with her albumin and uric acid levels, her kidneys, and her legs, which became swollen. Due to this, she underwent a c-section at 33 weeks gestation, and her son weighed just 2.2kg (4.85lbs).

“Seeing the baby and hearing his cries, I am so excited," Zou said. "I did not expect that my dream would come true."

Dr. Guo claimed Zou is "a brave mother to take this formidable challenge."

Why It Matters:

Zou's case illustrates how the fertility industry turns children into products to be sold, rather than treating them as human beings with their own intrinsic rights. Children are treated as items to which others have a right, engineered to exact specifications, and discarded if deemed defective.

Fertility start-ups allow would-be parents to choose a child based on eugenics-based screening practices, ensuring only the "best" children are created and born. Human embryos have been turned into jewelry,  fought over, and abandoned in divorce/custody agreements, and even traded among would-be parents so adults can ensure they receive the exact product they want.

The fertility industry also promises to allow parents to test for hundreds of traits, ensuring that babies are created to exact specifications — like ordering a car from a factory.

In cases like Zou's, the well-being of the child is never under consideration. But at nearly 60 years old, she is not the only older woman who had a child using IVF; a woman in Uganda became a mother at the age of 70 through IVF, causing international outrage.

As one doctor pointed out, the parents' wants are prioritized over the children's needs.

“In my opinion, what happened with this 70-year-old woman is so irresponsible,” Dr. Brian Levine told TODAY in 2023, adding:

“Data shows that women who give birth over the age of 50 have elevated rates of hypertension, gestational diabetes and preterm labor. If a 70-year-old gets a blood clot, suffers a stroke, or has a heart attack, the kids will be developmentally and possibly physically delayed. And who is going to take care of these medically fragile kids when their parents die?”

Zou gave birth to a premature child to satisfy her own loneliness, and there was seemingly no one in the medical community concerned about the long-term problems, including what will happen to this little boy as Zou and her husband quickly reach old age and poorer health.

The Bottom Line:

Katy Faust, a childen's rights advocate and founder of Them Before Us, pointed to this case on X as an example of the ethical problems in the fertility industry.

"59 year-old woman gives birth to an IVF baby because she's lonely. How's everyone feeling about this? Baby must be 'so wanted?' 'Love makes a family?'" she wrote. "Or will we recognize that maybe there's some downsides to baby manufacturing technologies."