Oct 28/10 - Pt 2: Older Mothers

PART TWO

Older Mothers - Letters

Last weekend Celine Dion, gave birth to twin boys. She is 42. Her husband, Rene Angelil is 68. He says he shed tears of joy and relief after the birth in part because conception and pregnancy proved so difficult for the couple. The twin boys were born prematurely. Angelil says they used IVF treatment and tried five times over the last year-and-a-half.

Last week, as part of our project, Shift, The Current looked at the demographic trend towards older parenthood. The shift is facilitated -- in part at least -- by reproductive technologies such as egg and embryo freezing technologies intended to get around the fact that there is a sharp decline in fertility after a woman turns 35.

Last week on the program, Anna Maria Tremonti spoke with Carolyn Lawrence who is planning to freeze her eggs. But ethicist Francoise Baylis took issue with what she sees as a dangerous way of thinking about parenthood.

We received a flood of letters and phone calls in response to that discussion including response from children of older parents and we shared some on air.

Older Mothers - Panel

Last week, we heard a lot about the challenges and problems associated with having children later in life. But -- as many of you pointed out in your letters -- we didn't hear much about the benefits.

So for a different perspective on the issue, we were joined by two people. Vardit Ravitsky is a professor of bioethics at the University of Montreal. She was in Ottawa this morning. And Angel La Liberte is the founder of Flower Power Mom, a website about motherhood after 40. She is a Canadian who lives in Santa Cruz, California.