Sixty-four-year-old woman gives birth to twins in Spain

The mother and the babies, a boy and a girl, are reported to be in good health, said the hospital in a statement. A team of gynecologists, pediatricians, midwives, nurses and other health workers participated in the delivery.

This is the second time that M.I.A has given birth at this hospital, where she had her first child six years ago.

In Spain, existing legislation does not place age limits on fertility treatments, leaving clinics to self-regulate

But the local daily Diario de Burgos reported that this child is now a ward of the regional government of Castilla y León, after social services found that the little girl was not being properly cared for and was missing school.

Last year, a doctor from Lugo named Lina Álvarez gave birth to a baby girl at the age of 62. Before that, in 2006, a 67-year-old from Cádiz named Carmen Bousada had delivered twins at Barcelona’s Sant Pau Hospital.

But her record has since been beaten by several Indian women in their seventies who underwent fertility treatments at a clinic that sets no age limits to motherhood. In 2007, the Russian daily Pravda reported that a 79-year-old woman named Ula Margusheva was pregnant.

In Spain, existing legislation does not place age limits on fertility treatments, leaving clinics to self-regulate. The Spanish Fertility Society has set the desirable age limit at 50, although gynecologists say that they are occasionally faced with exceptional cases of older women who wish to be mothers against all odds.

English version by Susana Urra.