World's oldest mum pops clogs

Has twins at 67, dies at 70*

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Biology, 15th July 2009 14:17 GMT

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María del Carmen Bousada de Lara, the Cadiz woman who controversially had twins at 67, has died of cancer aged 70, the Diario de Cádiz reports.*

Former shop assistant Bousada de Lara lied about her age to the Los Angles clinic which imposed the legal limit of 55 years for IVF treatment. Following the successful deception, she gave birth to Pau and Christian on 29 December 2006.

Most of the polemic surrounding the birth centred on the kids' future. Bousada de Lara insisted her mother "had lived to 101 and she saw no reason she shouldn't do the same". She told the media: "I have wanted to be a mother all my life, but I never had the opportunity, or met the right man,"

Indeed, the decision to have her children at such an advanced age was apparently provoked by the death of her mother, who she'd had to look after for many years.

Bousada de Lara was single when she gave birth, although she said she'd like to find "a father younger than herself" to share the parenting experience.

The Diario de Cádiz does not offer any insight into what will now happen to the twins, and Bousada de Lara's brother refused to discuss the matter.

Josephine Quintavalle, the head of the Comment on Reproductive Ethics campaigning group, was more forthcoming. She said: "This is horrifying, it's such a sad story. The poor children have been created and treated like objects. I'm sorry but she's been totally selfish.

"Why would a woman want to become a mother at an age when she knows her children are much more likely to be orphaned when they're young? Women are not meant to have babies when they're in their sixties."®