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Science is striding forward by leaps and bounds. The consciousness of people is also changing. What seemed like a sensation 40-50 years ago has become commonplace. And what they could not even think of was a new reality.
Shot from the film “Junior”
Previously, women had to choose between giving birth to a sick child or not giving birth at all. Now with the help of PGT (pre-implantation genetic testing – approx. ed.) or cytoplasmic transfer, they can give birth to healthy children. And if the first is already actively used all over the world, then only a select few know about the second.
Why does a child need four parents
“Most of our DNA is found in the nucleus of cells, but a small amount of genetic material is found in mitochondria, small organelles outside the nucleus. In rare cases, the DNA in mitochondria becomes defective due to mutations, and babies are born with severe genetic diseases. Now doctors can take an egg from a mother-to-be and inject another woman’s mitochondrial DNA into it, ”- writes Dr. Jacob Appel in his book Who Is Saved First? Medical and ethical dilemmas: how to solve them conscientiously and according to the law.
As a result of cytoplasmic transfer, the child will have DNA from three biological parents: the mother, the second woman, and the father. And if we consider that surrogacy is actively used in the modern world, then the embryo can be carried by a third woman and then it will be born to four parents. Yes, the latter will not pass on her genes to him, but she will give birth!
Over the past twenty years, more than ten children have been born as a result of cytoplasmic transfer.
One of them is Alana Saarinen from the USA. Her mom had a cytoplasmic transfer in 2000, after four failed IVF cycles. The girl is healthy, and every cell of her body is unique and contains the genetic material of two women and one man.
While conceiving a child by three parents is an innovation, ethics experts are asking questions: will the woman who donated the mitochondria have rights to the baby? Will the child be able to claim her inheritance? Is she a second mother or who?
Childbirth from 50 years of age and older
In the USSR, women giving birth to their first child after 25 years were called old-born. Now the milestone has shifted towards 35 years. However, he will soon have to be moved, because today’s mothers are not shy about gray hair and are not afraid of sleepless nights in adulthood.
Singer Janet Jackson gave birth to a son at 50. Lyudmila, the second wife of actor Alexander Belyavsky, found the happiness of motherhood at 52. Danish actress Bridget Nielsen became a mother for the fourth time at 54 years old, and Irina, the third wife of Emmanuel Vitorgan, gave birth to a girl at 56 years old.
According to Rosstat, in 2019, Russian women aged 50 to 60 gave birth to 296 children, and 19 children were born to women over 60.
Galina Shubenina, 60, from Moscow, after the death of her son from a previous marriage, gave birth to a daughter in February 2015. Yulia Zhabyko, 51, from Vladivostok, became the mother of triplets after IVF treatment in June 2018. In November 2019, a resident of the Tomsk region gave birth to her fifth child at the age of 54. In September 2008, 50-year-old Elena from Irkutsk became a mother for the third time:
“From my first marriage, I had two children: a daughter and a son. My second husband, on the contrary, did not have children, although he dreamed of them very much. At every feast he repeated: “For my wife, who will one day give birth to a princess for me!” After these words, my mother said: “Lena, just don’t try to give birth again!”. I didn’t think, I just decided to leave everything to the will of God: if I get pregnant, I’ll give birth, no, it’s not destiny. Somewhere upstairs, apparently, they decided to give me another chance, and on my 50th birthday I gave us my youngest daughter. Mom, unfortunately, did not live to see this day. I never retired, I work to raise my daughter, older children also take part, my husband got a disability and now helps more with the housework than with money. “
This is not a complete list of mothers who have decided on a late pregnancy, who by their example prove that age is just a number, and youth is in the soul.
How mothers give birth from son biomaterial, and wives – from deceased husbands
“We cannot be erased … Let us be unlucky, but we will take our own,” – these lines from Basta’s song “Samsara” perfectly illustrate another trend of modern motherhood: the birth of a child a few years after the death of his biological father. This became possible thanks to the posthumous collection of sperm or its freezing during life. In both cases, the rights to the biomaterial belong to the spouse or mother of the man – unless otherwise specified in the documents.
Wanting to continue the race and see favorite traits in children, both can take advantage of this.
France, Germany and other European countries, unlike the United States, prohibit the procedure. In Russia, this moment is not regulated in any way from the point of view of legislation.
Lucy Kelsall, 37, from England, buried her husband in 2017. 45-year-old David struggled with cancer for several years and really wanted to become a father. Before starting treatment, the man froze sperm, hoping to use it after recovery. Lucy single-handedly fulfilled his dream. In 2020, their common children were born – twins David and Samuel.
In Russia, widows are not so desperate and most often choose to remarry with the subsequent birth of children from a living father. True, with the mothers of the deceased, everything is just the same. Since 2005, four Russian women have become grandmothers-mothers of children conceived from their own sons. The first woman to take this step is Ekaterina Zakharova from Yekaterinburg. In 2010, Natalya Klimova from St. Petersburg repeated her experience, in 2011 – Lamara Kelesheva from Moscow, in 2016 – M. Tsygankova from Krasnodar. All women used the sperm of their deceased son, donor eggs and surrogate mothers’ services. After the birth of the children, in court, they sought the issuance of a birth certificate and their recognition as a mother.
“In fact, what mothers do not go for. I will tell you one case that happened in my practice. The couple had an adult son. The only one. Darling. He died … But his biomaterial, frozen several years ago, was stored in a cryobank. The son did not manage to get married, there were no children. The inconsolable mother dreamed of seeing the continuation of her son in her grandchildren. But how? The couple decided to do IVF using a donor egg and sperm from a deceased young man. The woman carried and gave birth to a grandson on her own. GRANDSON is biologically. But the SON according to the documents. Someone will say, the world has gone crazy, and someone, maybe, will sympathize and understand ”, – says Andrey Lychagin, a specialist in the treatment of infertility.
While the procedure is biologically doable, the ethical side of the issue is controversial.
I’m not a dad, I’m a mom!
The film “Junior”, released in 1994, starring a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger, was classified as a fantasy genre for its supernatural plot. However, today a man carrying a child is no longer a miracle, but a natural result of progress.
There are about a hundred such cases in the world. A man who has given birth to a child is called a trans-dad, who gave birth to a father or a seahorse dad (because male seahorses carry and give birth to their young, – approx. Healthy Food Near Me)
The brightest representatives of this category are the English journalist Freddie McConnell and the Colombian coach Esteban Landau. The first gave birth to a son in 2018, the second in 2020. Each of the men has their own experience of pregnancy and their own history.
Freddie was a woman until the age of 27, and then transformed into a man with the help of several operations and long-term hormone therapy. He refused to remove the uterus, thanks to which he retained menstruation and the ability to conceive. In January 2018, using the method of intrauterine insemination and donor sperm, he gave birth to his own child. Two years later, the man tried again, but alas, the second pregnancy ended in miscarriage. Now Freddie does not give up, dreaming of making his only son an older brother.
Unlike his partner, Esteban is not a single father, but a happy husband. His child was conceived naturally from transgender model Danna Sultana. The boy was born in the summer of 2020 and still does not understand that his mom is actually dad, and dad is mom.
And although Freddie and Esteban are fathers in childbirth, legally they are both recorded in the birth certificates of children as a “mother”, because the rules in force since 1836 do not keep up with modern realities and require that the mother give birth to the child.
conclusions
Procreation is not only a law of nature, but also a biological need for man. And although technology has made it a more predictable process, there are probably still many wonderful discoveries ahead.
Photo: Still from the film, Getty Images