59 Year Old French Woman gives Birth to Triplets

A 59-year-old woman has given birth to triplets at a Paris hospital after seeking fertility treatment in Vietnam, a hospital spokeswoman said on Monday.

News of the woman's pregnancy has drawn widespread criticism in the French media since it was made public last week. It is illegal in France to provide fertility treatment to women who are no longer at an age when they can procreate naturally.

"On this particular point, scientific progress is not good for mankind," said Andre Vingt-Trois, a Catholic archbishop, quoted by Monday's Le Parisian newspaper.

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The woman gave birth by Caesarean section at the Cochin hospital late on Saturday night, a spokeswoman said. She had two boys who weighed 2.3 kg and 2.1 kg, and a girl who weighed 2.4 kg. The mother and the babies were all in good health.

The hospital declined to give any further details.

There has been a trickle of births by women in their late 50s and in their 60s in various countries since 1994, when Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori caused an international controversy by helping a 63-year-old have a baby.