guardian - France: Woman, 59, is oldest mother of triplets

A woman in France has become the oldest known mother of triplets after giving birth at 59, reigniting the debate about late pregnancy and so-called fertility tourism.
The woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, is of Asian origin and had fertility treatment in Vietnam. She gave birth by caesarean section at the weekend, the Cochin maternity hospital in Paris said yesterday. The triplets, two boys and a girl who weighed 2.3kg (5.1lb), 2.1kg and 2.4kg, were described as being in good health.
But fertility experts said it could not be taken as proof of the success of late pregnancies. It is illegal for French IVF clinics to treat women deemed too old to reproduce naturally. The age limit is generally 42, and the number of embryos used is limited to lessen the risk of multiple births.
"[Fertility laws] are there to treat infertility," Professor François Thépot, medical director of France's Biomedicine Agency, told Agence France-Presse. "We do not want to turn them into a new means of procreation for people who would like to have children out of the natural context."
The trend for women to seek IVF treatment in countries with less stringent regulations - dubbed fertility tourism - has prompted concern from specialists. A woman of 44 who had IVF in Greece against the advice of her French doctors has been in a coma since June after giving birth to healthy triplets in Angers.
"The complications are manageable until about 42, 43 years old," said Professor René Frydman, the doctor behind France's first test tube baby, in 1982. "But after that you're going into the danger zone, in particular around 60. The heart just isn't made for it,"
The previous oldest mother of triplets is thought to be an unidentified Italian woman of 57.