NPR Examines Shift To Later Age Of First Childbirth In U.S.

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 12 May 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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NPR's "Morning Edition" on Thursday reported on the increase in the average age at which women give birth for the first time in the U.S. According to "Morning Edition," the "average age of mothers in the U.S. has been steadily increasing," with the current average age of first birth slightly above 25. More than one-third of women are more than 30 years old when they give birth for the first time, "Morning Edition" reports.

Marcelle Cedars, a reproductive specialist at the University of California-San Francisco, said that fertility in women peaks around age 22 and that pregnancy becomes much more difficult to achieve after age 35. After age 35, "[e]ach egg is more likely to be genetically abnormal. And a genetically abnormal egg is less likely to fertilize," Cedars said, adding, "It's less likely to develop. It's less likely to implant. If it implants, it's more likely to miscarry." Cedars said many women are unaware that they likely would need reproductive assistance to have children at an older age.

Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University, said social shifts have led women to delay having children. Fisher said that many women are "concerned about getting a career before they marry. And that takes time." She added, "I think that even the established business community is beginning to really realize that men and women were built to work together, so that women can have their children when they're young and also sustain their career" (Wilson, "Morning Edition," NPR, 5/8).

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