China woman, 62, gets pregnant through IVF after death of only child, sparking controversy

A 62-year-old woman in China, who has been pregnant for six months and regards the baby as the return of her deceased son, her only child, has trended on social media, sparking a heated discussion.\nOn a leading mainland social media platform, a woman in Songyuan from Jilin province, in northeastern China, provides regular updates on the pregnancy life of her elder sister, Dahe News reported.\nThe grey-haired expectant mother is pregnant for the second time in her life.\nIn January of 2025, she lost her son, who was her only child. It is not clear how old he was or why he died.\n\nIn the middle of the year, the woman, whose name was not revealed in the report, conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF).\n“I guess the baby will come to the world ahead of the due date,” the woman said in a relaxed manner in front of the camera in a video released at the end of December.\n“It likes kicking my belly. I find whenever I eat sweet food, the baby tends to be active,” she added.\nIn China, doctors are banned from telling expectant mothers the gender of their feotuses amid a background that some families will intentionally abort the female baby due to a traditional preference for male offspring.\n“Many people told me that since I like eating sweet food these days, the baby I am carrying should be a boy,” the 62-year-old woman said in a clip. “So it is the return of my son.”\n\nShe receives more frequent prenatal examinations than younger pregnant women.\nEvery time, she is accompanied by her younger sister, who shares the videos online using the alias ‘Xiao Wei’.\nFor some critical check-up, they have to go to major health centres in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin, about 170 km away from their hometown of Songyuan.\n“In principle, we do not advocate women to get pregnant at a super old age because they face extremely high risks,” Chen Min, a senior obstetrics doctor at Harbin No 1 Hospital in Heilong province, told the media.\n“The possibility of complications during pregnancy increases multiple times compared to that of younger pregnant women. They can only choose a caesarean section, but the surgery is also risky for them,” she was quoted as saying.\nIf a woman really has a need to have a baby at a rather old age, she should undergo a comprehensive medical assessment before pregnancy, strictly follow doctors’ advice and deliver the baby at a big hospital with a sound emergency response ability, according to the doctor.\n\nViews on this 62-year-old expectant mother’s choice were divided on mainland social media.\n“Do you have the required energy to look after the child? Moreover, if you and your husband die, your child will become an orphan at a young age. Even after he is an adult, he will still feel grieved seeing his peers’ parents alive,” said one online observer.\nBut others supported the old couple: “A person needs an emotional anchor and spiritual support to live on. These are the motivations of life,” one person said.\nXiao Wei responded by saying: “No one understands my sister’s insistence. No one understands the pain from losing her only child.”\n