A Ugandan woman has made international headlines after successfully giving birth to twins at 70 years old.
Safina Namukwaya welcomed 3 lbs., 7 oz. twins — a boy and a girl — on November 29th at Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Uganda. The fertility center boasted of the accomplishment on Facebook, writing that they set an African record. “Celebrating our 20th anniversary, we’ve achieved the extraordinary – delivering twins to Africa’s oldest mother aged 70!” the hospital wrote. “This historic event, a baby boy and girl, not only marks our two decades of leadership in IVF, but also sets us apart as the premier fertility centre in Africa.”
The BBC reported that the twins were conceived using a donor egg and Namukwaya’s ex-partner’s sperm. But once he learned she was carrying twins, he abandoned her. “Men don’t like to be told that you are carrying more than one child. Ever since I was admitted here, my man has never showed up,” she said.
Namukwaya also gave birth to a girl in 2020, and said she wanted to have someone to take care of her when she grew old.
The pregnancy was reportedly a difficult one, as Namukwaya reportedly spent all of her time ill, and went through all of her savings. “There was a time I felt very sick because of the pregnancy. I spent nearly all my savings. Then I went to a hospital and talked to the doctor about my condition,” she said, according to PEOPLE.
Namukwaya further spoke to TODAY about her experience, oddly saying that “God decided” she would get pregnant, even though there was nothing natural about her twins’ conception, as Namukwaya used a donor egg and underwent IVF to have her children.
“I feel great. Some might argue that 70 years is old, but God decided that I get to have twins at 70. There is no one that can put a limit on God’s authority and power,” she said, adding, “Some households will be helping me with washing and the babies because of my advanced age.”
Today further explained that Namukwaya was implanted with four embryos, and the practice was criticized by American fertility specialists.
“In my opinion, what happened with this 70-year-old woman is so irresponsible,” Dr. Brian Levine told TODAY. He added, “Data shows that women who give birth over the age of 50 have elevated rates of hypertension, gestational diabetes and preterm labor. If a 70-year-old gets a blood clot, suffers a stroke, or has a heart attack, the kids will be developmentally and possibly physically delayed. And who is going to take care of these medically fragile kids when their parents die?”
A study from Harvard Medical School found that found that 62% of children conceived through donor technologies believe it to be unethical and immoral, and said they felt like business transactions.
“When you are commissioning and swiping your credit card for a product, even one that you want badly, you are participating in commodification, regardless of whether the intended parents are the biological parents of the surrogate-born children,” Katie Breckenridge, of child advocacy group Them Before Us, previously told Live Action News. “In this case, the products are human beings.”
