Give over-50s the right to IVF, says top fertility doctor

Professor Ian Craft, from the London Fertility Centre, said those opposed to older women becoming mothers are guilty of a "police state mentality".

The controversial doctor told a meeting of fertility experts that women have given birth after the menopause, which justifies giving those in their fifties IVF treatment.

Professor Craft, whose clinic helped a 56-year-old woman get pregnant, said: "Knowing that natural conceptions do occur, why should infertile women be denied treatment that occurs naturally, whether they still menstruate or not?

"A police state mentality denies women one fertility option but allows another - for example, termination of an undesired pregnancy."

His comments will fuel the debate over late motherhood and the ability of science to enable women in their fifties and sixties to become mothers.

The British Fertility Society said there were "significant risks" for women giving birth at such a late age. Chairman Dr Mark Hamilton said: 'There should not be a blanket ban but there is no question that women of this age will have other medical issues and clinics have to gauge the wisdom of giving them what is very complex treatment."

There is currently no official bar to women over the age of 50 from having fertility treatment. But clinics have to justify their decisions for allowing IVF and most will not treat older women on the grounds it would not be in the interests of the child.

This means increasing numbers of older women are travelling abroad to clinics in countries such as Russia. These include Dr Patricia Rashbrook, who was the oldest woman in Britain to give birth to a child. The child psychiatrist was 62 when she gave birth to a son in 2006 using a donated egg.

Professor Craft's clinic is one of only a few in the UK which will treat women up to the age of 56, as well as those over this age in exceptional circumstances.

Professor Craft said each case is considered in depth and on its own merits. "Those against treating such women will argue that no woman aged 50 and over should receive assisted conception due to presumed risks," he said.

"Such views do not take into account the fact that successful natural births do occur in this age range, or the inherent desire of some couples of this age group to procreate and form a family."

The chance of a woman conceiving naturally in her fifties is tiny, but there have been at least two reported cases of 55-year-old British women getting pregnant and giving birth to children without the help of fertility treatment.

Professor Craft's comments were presented today at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Barcelona.