Frenchwoman, 59, gives birth to healthy triplets

8 September 2008

PARIS – A 59-year-old Frenchwoman has given birth by Caesarean section to two boys and a girl, who are in good health, the Paris hospital treating her said on Monday.

"Everything went smoothly," said a spokesman at the Cochin hospital, adding that the babies were delivered overnight Saturday.

The woman, of Vietnamese origin, is thought to have resorted to a private Vietnamese clinic willing to overlook the age limit for egg donation and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), set at 45 in Vietnam, according to press reports.

Egg donations are authorised in France but most fertility clinics here set a maximum age limit of 42 for would-be mothers.

But nothing prevents couples from seeking fertility treatment abroad and in 2001 a 62-year-old Frenchwoman gave birth to a child conceived through IVF, in the Riviera town of Frejus.

Earlier in 2008, an Indian woman said to be 70 years old gave birth to twins after receiving IVF treatment.

[AFP / Expatica]