Yes or no, is there an age beyond which it becomes impossible to have a child (apart from menopause, of course)? Since the advent of contraception in the 1970s, it's really "a child if I want when I want", right? The problem is that not all gynecologists say the same thing. Some, like Élodie's, do not want to alert their patients, even 38-year-olds. Others are more pressing and broach the subject at each visit, including by asking absurd questions, such as Claire's gynecologist, who became a mother at 40:"Well then, it's when you give me a baby ? And science, what does it say? "It's difficult to answer with precision," explains Professor François Olivennes, obstetrician-gynecologist and pope of medically assisted procreation*. There is great variability from person to person. An example:we know that women have great difficulty having children ten years before their menopause. However, some are menopausal at 40, others at 60! We could therefore say that between the ages of 30 and 50, it is still possible to be pregnant. These figures, theoretical as they are, still have the merit of showing that it is difficult to measure our fertility. Where it gets complicated is that the specialists do not always agree with each other and send each other different studies in the face that leave those who - like you and me - perplexed - do not have fifteen years of studies behind them. . As proof, the recent controversy launched by Jean Twenge, an American researcher in psychology. She claims that studies showing that women have more difficulty having children over the age of 35 are biased. She also maintains that 80% of non-overweight white women who have already had children can be pregnant at 38 or 39, after six months. "It's wrong", answers, categorically, Professor Olivennes.
* Author of Making a Child in the 20th Century, Ed. Flammarion.
