There is much controversy over pregnancy's initiated by older women. In the controversy there are several viewpoints as to why a pregnancy may be either beneficial or harmful for both the parent and child. Statistically, America has seen a shift in the number of pregnancies that occur into people thirties and even later. Numbers of late pregnancies are astounding to some people. According to the most current census, 44% of all births were to women over the age of thirty. If that is not surprising enough, of women aged 35-39 there was an increase of over 60% and for women in range of 40-44 there was a 50% increase. Many find it astounding for such a dramatic increase to occur within one decade.
Women over the age of 35 may have difficulty conceiving a child. This is because at approximately the age of 30 there is a gradual decrease in fertility and as a result many older mothers are forces to undergo some type of fertility treatment in order to become pregnant. .
Once conception is achieved, there are other downsides to increased-age pregnancies. Unfortunately, with the older age, a woman is at greater risk of developing diabetes, fibroids or hypertensive disorders, which would affect the unborn child and could cause complications during birth. From the studies made on conceptions that occur at older ages there was found an increase of 5.5% chance that a mother under the age of 29 would have a pre-existing condition to 11.8% for women over thirty-five. Also, the number of complications that occur during pregnancy rose from 10.43% for women aged 20-29 to as many as 19.29% for those ranged 35-39 years old. Such complications may include: high blood pressure, third-trimester bleeding, and low lying placenta. .
Some other effects of older motherhood include the likelihood of included labor, fetal distress, the necessity of epidural anesthesia, or forceps delivery. In addition, there is a consensus in all studies made concerning late-aged pregnancies that there is a correlation between increased rates of caesareans with increased maternal age.
