>Maternal Age seems like a boogie man story to scare women.
It's just a biological reality. It is certainly possible to have a healthy birth after the age of 35 but the rate of health problems and birth defects don't go up linearly with age. The rate of pregnancy loss is 35% after the age of 35 and is above 50% after the age of 45. This is just reality. If women want to have multiple children it is wise to start before age 33.
The decrease in fertility with age is a biological reality, but I also suspect it's influenced by attrition selection and stress, and looks worse because of it. Fecundability seems to be roughly linear with age, and gravid women have significantly higher fecunability ratio from 40-45 than nulligravid women do.
> In this preconception cohort study of North American pregnancy planners, increasing female age was associated with an approximately linear decline in fecundability.
A reason I suggest young women speak with women who started families mid-late career would hear actual experiences, giving perspective that it's not as bleak as the statistics show.
We had two children, both healthy, after mom was 35.
We also had a pregnancy that didn't go to term.
I surmise women might take some comfort in knowing that pregnancy complications are normal.
It's not about individual anecdotes, it's about probabilities and actuarial risks.
A woman who gets pregnant at 25 is less likely to have issues than a woman who gets pregnant at 35 and much less likely to have issues than a woman who gets pregnant at 45.
That's the reality.
The fact that some women have successful pregnancies at 45 doesn't change it. Nor does it suggest that women should simply ignore the facts and hope for the best.
Some drivers make successful journeys while drunk, without killing themselves or anyone else. That doesn't mean drunk driving is a recommended personal choice, or that the element of choice somehow makes the risks disappear, or that drunk drivers who happen to beat the odds and survive many journeys should be sharing their lifestyle choices with others.
> A woman who gets pregnant at 25 is less likely to have issues than a woman who gets pregnant at 35 and much less likely to have issues than a woman who gets pregnant at 45.
You are equating to "issues" to mean "no healthy children"
> The fact that some women have successful pregnancies at 45 doesn't change it
Is a straw man.
Plenty of women have successful pregnancies at 35. And 25 year old women debating that choice should hear from them.
Said differently:
Can you wait too long to have children? Yes.
Is 35 too long? No.
It's just a biological reality. It is certainly possible to have a healthy birth after the age of 35 but the rate of health problems and birth defects don't go up linearly with age. The rate of pregnancy loss is 35% after the age of 35 and is above 50% after the age of 45. This is just reality. If women want to have multiple children it is wise to start before age 33.