Japanese gran menopausal and pregnant

An unmarried 60-year-old Japanese woman is 15 weeks pregnant with an embryo created from donated egg and sperm, her obstetrician said, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the country.

The woman, who was not named, had the procedure done in the United States, said Dr. Yahiro Netsu, who examined her at his maternity clinic in Nagano prefecture, central Japan.

The woman, who had reached menopause, is likely to have undergone hormone treatment when the embryo was implanted but Netsu said that no special treatment will be needed for her pregnancy to continue.

"Once pregnant, she is the same as other expecting mothers," he told Reuters.

This is the first known case in Japan where a single, older woman has become pregnant with a child that is unrelated to her by blood, media said.

Japan's main obstetricians' group bans in vitro fertilisation involving donor eggs and sperm, forcing some women to travel abroad. Netsu is known for defying the obstetric association and urging the medical community to review its opposition to surrogate motherhood.

The woman plans to give birth at Netsu's clinic as other medical institutions in Japan have refused to see her, Netsu said, adding that this was a result of the ban by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (JSOG).

A spokesperson for JSOG declined to comment.

Late childbearing, defined by the World Health Organisation as involving women over age 35, has been increasing in Japan as more women participate in the work force and marry at a later age. In 2006, 18 percent of births were to mothers over 35, compared with nine percent in 1990, a government survey showed.

As women get older, they are at greater risks of pregnancy complications such as bleeding and high blood pressure.


Source : Babynet