What, If Any, Should Be the Age Limit for a Woman to Have a Child?

What, if any, should be the age limit for a woman to have a child?

Introduction: The ideal age for giving birth is between 20 and 25 years. However, nowadays women started delaying their pregnancies to the third and fourth decades of their life. There are many reasons behind this phenomenon, which includes; late marriages, more advanced education and career expectations (Verma, 2009, cited in Amarin, 2013). The risks of miscarriage and the pregnancy complications decrease, as women get older. Some women at the age of 35 years or over may not be able to get pregnant at all (Utting and Bewley 2011). Meanwhile, women younger than 35 years have better ability in easy pregnancies and healthy children. But, young maternal age of 21 years and under, at delivery, is related to the increased risk of short-term obstacles after delivery (Aviram, Raban, Melamed, Hadar, Wiznitzer and Yogev 2013). In the other hand, elder mothers are more responsible and can manage to raise their children and support them financially better than younger mothers. Many different aspects affect each period of age. Abstract: A study on mice has found that middle aged and younger mothers, have children with lower body weights and reproductive genitals, than the children of young adult mothers (Young 2000). The increase in the risk of conflicting outcomes of pregnancy occurs basically in young teenage mothers, this is apart from the risks of other social and behavioural complications, which also affect the teenage pregnancy. Therefore, to reduce the risk, improving the sociodemographic environment must be considered for teenage mothers knowing that it cannot eliminate the risk of poor conflicting outcomes (Alison, Fraser, John, Brockert and Ward 1995). However, older mothers compared with young mothers, had significantly higher risk of low birth weight, very preterm and gestational age with small size. Mothers older than 40-49 years have a higher risk than those who are in their 40s in terms of all...