Briton, 59, Is Oldest on Record to Give Birth to Test-Tube Twins

A 59-year-old Briton has become the oldest woman on record to have twins after giving birth to test-tube babies on Christmas Day, a British newspaper reported today.

The woman, who was not named, was given fertility treatment by controversial Italian doctor Severino Antinori and had her babies by Cesarean section in a London clinic Saturday, the Sun said.

The case caused a fierce controversy about post-menopausal mothers when it first became public in July, midway through the woman’s pregnancy. The Sun ran six pages of comment about the ethics of the birth, noting that the mother would be 77 when her children reached official adulthood at age 18.

The average British woman’s life span is 78, it said.

Antinori has helped a succession of women over 50 become mothers, and another of his patients, a 58-year-old Swedish woman, gave birth to twins in August.

The British mother, said to be a wealthy businesswoman with no other children, was implanted with four embryos after her husband’s sperm was used to fertilize eggs donated by an anonymous Italian woman in her 20s.

The report, which put the cost of the treatment at about $6,000, did not give the sex of the babies or the name of the London clinic. It said the woman turned 59 last month and was married to a 45-year-old economist.