Table 1.

Four common arguments supporting and four arguments against an upper maternal age limit for IVF.

Supporting age limit

Against age limit

A child has a right to a safe childhood and adolescence. This right may be encroached upon when the mother has an age-related risk of disease and possibly death. The woman and the foetus are at increased risk with advancing maternal age. With advancing maternal age, the chance of successful IVF decreases; if there is public financing of IVF, this argument includes cost-effectiveness and prioritization deliberations. If donated eggs are used, limited availability of eggs may justify that younger women with strictly ‘medical’ infertility and a higher chance of successful pregnancy are prioritized over women with age-related infertility.

Reproductive autonomy: a woman should have the right to choose when she wants to have a child. With secular trends of improved physical health in upper middle age, the prerequisites for being a healthy and active mother have improved. Chronological age has therefore become less decisive when parenthood is considered. Other factors, such as the presence of chronic life-threatening disease or severe alcohol and drug abuse, are more crucial. Middle-aged women are often psychologically mature and have a stable social and economic situation; the preconditions for care of a child are usually good. An upper age limit means formalized age discrimination.