Older Moms Are Center of New Debates

In “Testing the Limits” (Feb. 6), the headline asks whether a woman in her 40s, 50s or 60s should have a baby through technology.

Whether someone of menopausal age should be a mother is really beside the point. Mothers and grandmothers that old and older have had to raise the babies born to their own offspring. No one asks if these second-time-around mothers should raise their children’s babies.

The discussion should not center on whether mature women should be allowed their babies. Rather we should focus on why those so eager to disparage motherhood at 50 are unmoved by the greater number of births to unprepared mothers 15 and younger. The latter impacts society on a much greater scale.

PRUDENCE BAIRD

Los Angeles

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The old double standard has again reared its ugly head. Men have fathered children in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond for generations and this has never been questioned. Now when women have been given the means to become parents late in life, there is an outcry of indignation.

The article says: “The struggle to become pregnant may pale in the face of raising a child in a world that is not accustomed to vintage parents . . . There are no role models.”

Come on now, take a look at my generation. There are lots of older mothers including myself. I had a child at age 40 and it worked out wonderfully. This son is now 27 and I could not ask for a better relationship. So I say to all those women out there who are first time mothers at age 40 and beyond, hang in there, the best is yet to be.

DOROTHY CROWLEY

CAVECCHE

Palos Verdes Estates