NEW YORK FORUM ABOUT MOTHERHOOD Gray-haired And Pregnant? CITY Edition

SOME WOMEN enter menopause very early, in their midto late 30s - far too young in these days of delayed childbearing. If doctors can help women with blocked tubes and men with too few sperm, can they help these women too? It turns out, with the use of a variety of new reproductive technologies, they...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNewsday
Main Author By Barbara Katz Rothman. Barbara Katz Rothman is a
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 14.01.1991
EditionCombined editions
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Summary:SOME WOMEN enter menopause very early, in their midto late 30s - far too young in these days of delayed childbearing. If doctors can help women with blocked tubes and men with too few sperm, can they help these women too? It turns out, with the use of a variety of new reproductive technologies, they can. A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that women who have passed menopause, previously considered the natural end to the possibility of biological motherhood, can become pregnant using in vitro fertilization and donor eggs. Why are so many women postponing childbearing, risking infertility and the winding down of the biological clock? It is not out of selfishness, but out of a response to real demands. Women are learning what men have known for a few generations: It is very hard to be a determined, ambitious, career-minded person in our society and be a good parent. There is nothing wrong with wanting to continue one's education or do interesting work and wanting, at the same time, to nurture and care for one's family. But our society hasn't allowed for it. We used to expected men to sacrifice family for career; women to sacrifice career for family. Women could have educations and careers - but before or after the children, not while raising them.