LONDON, Jan. 29, 2007

World's Oldest Mom Lied To Get Treatment

67-Year-Old Woman Who Gave Birth To Twin Boys Told California Fertility Clinic She Was 55

  •  (CBS/AP)

(AP)  A 67-year-old woman who is believed to be the world's oldest new mother told a British Sunday newspaper she lied to a U.S. fertility clinic — saying she was 55 — to get treatment.

Carmela Bousada said in her first interview since she gave birth to twin boys on Dec. 29 that she sold her house in Spain to raise $59,000 to pay for in vitro fertilization at a California clinic, The News of the World reported.

"I think everyone should become a mother at the right time for them," Bousada said in a video of the interview provided to Associated Press Television News.

"Often circumstances put you between a rock and a hard place and maybe things shouldn't have been done in the way they were done but that was the only way to achieve the thing I had always dreamed of and I did it," she said.

Bousada turned 67 this month but said she told the Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles she was 55 — the clinic's cut off for treating single women, the report said. She said the clinic did not ask her for identification.

Dr. Vicken Sahakian, the clinic's medical director, confirmed late Saturday that he treated Bousada, but said clinic procedures would have required her to provide her passport.

"I did not know that she was 66," Sahakian told The Associated Press, declining to comment on her case further. "We do check identity."

Bousada now hopes to find a younger husband to help raise her two sons, Pau and Christian, the newspaper said.

The retired department store employee lived with her elderly mother for her entire life in Cadiz, in southern Spain. She hatched her plan to have children after her mother died, at an unspecified age, in 2005, the newspaper said.

She kept her plan secret from her family and when she finally told them she was two months pregnant, they thought she was joking.

"Yes, I am old of course, but if I live as long as my mom did, imagine, I could even have grandchildren," she said in the video.

She was hospitalized during her pregnancy after she collapsed in a supermarket, but said her health has been good since she delivered.

"When the doctors said they had to make an incision for the Caesarean, I told them, 'Make it really low so that I can still wear a bikini,"' Bousada was quoted as saying.

The twins, who were born seven weeks premature, remained in hospital for three weeks, but are now healthy and at home with Bousada, the report said.

Romanian citizen Adriana Iliescu gave birth to baby Eliza Maria in January 2005, also at the age of 66. Bousada was 130 days older than Iliescu when she gave birth.

© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Add a Comment See all 11 Comments
by bja8839 January 30, 2007 6:06 PM EST
i think you all need to leave her alone i mean it was up to her to have the kids and yeah so what she is old! she will learn the hard way.
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by candydrop-2009 January 30, 2007 1:07 PM EST
I think the boys are extremely handsome. She's a pretty lady too, but my concern is for the boys, unless she has money or family set aside, who's going to do, go to the games with them, can she run, play, carry 2 kids, and a baby bag, what is her physcal health like. Who will be their father and father figure Then I look at so many women have tried and do not have the money, had she did this with a spouse and not lied it would be OK.
she looks *** good for her age lets hope she has the energy and knows what it takes to be a mom.
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by Justadakaje January 30, 2007 5:17 AM EST
Cherie714 - LOL @ u. You are portraying the perfect "religionist" here. Way to go and make yourself look so elitist because you belong to a certain club that practices a certain religion...

christiansin - Yes, you had the right idea, but let me say it in a much more readable fashion: Doesn't this topic have about as much to do with god as an abortion clinic? I agree, but those that are into god are going to take every situation, "miracle", or event and bend and mold it into a way that god had allowed it to happen or helped assist it happening. whatever though. I think this lady was not thinking of the kids AT ALL. This is coming from someone that was raised by his GREAT-grandma (just turned 84) through most of his teen years.
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by bhussbhuss January 30, 2007 3:15 AM EST
If God didn't want her to have a baby, she wouldn't have had 1 let alone 2.
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by widsom1 January 29, 2007 7:32 PM EST
Cherie714, Sarah and Abraham had to do with the divine providence of God to fulfill His covenant. Elizabeth and Zechariah were also a special plans of God. This 66 year old woman telling a bald-face lie in order to have a baby has nothing to do with God's divine plans or the scripture. Remember the scripture say ALL LIARS shall have their part in the lake of fire. I hope she repents. Please note this woman purused medical science to full her desire not the will of God. There is a BIG difference. The poor children just may end up orphans, after all She's almost score and 10. Wisdom1
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by missyx21 January 29, 2007 6:55 PM EST
I'm happy for her. This kind of technology probably wasn't available when she was in her 30s. But now with all this technology she should be given a chance to be a mother. I'm not saying she did the right thing, I'm just happy it turned out well.
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by lily_ayanami January 29, 2007 6:55 PM EST
I agree. It's not fair to her two boys. There's the cultural gap (by age) to also consider. She's not going to be able to catch up.
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by christiansin January 29, 2007 6:44 PM EST
Setting aside her irresponsibility in making the decision to be a parent starting at age 66, I'm sure her sons will prefer to be the children of one senior citizen than over never have been born.

By the way, since you're dragging your gods into this... Doesn't this situation just as much amount to playing God as abortion? Do wackos ever bomb fertility clinics for helping infertile people have babies?
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by gunnerv1 January 29, 2007 6:28 PM EST
just think, by the time that she is 93, her kids will Grad. from a University.
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by cherie714-2009 January 29, 2007 6:06 PM EST
Burlykatz obviously you've never read the greatest book of all time, the Bible. If you had you would know that God granted Abraham and his wife Sarah to have children in their old age. Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 99 years old. So how can you say that if God wanted us to have children at old age he would have made it so on his own. HE DID!!! So before you go off the deep end, do your homework or better yet...get some religion.
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