no, women’s fertility does not drop at 35 (and we have to put an end to this obsession)

If you are a cisgender woman who wants to become a mother, you have probably heard this little alarm more or less naggingly: “Watch out for the biological clock!” Applied to the desire to give birth in the popular imagination, this famous clock would be set to 35 years, which would be the fateful course of the decline in female fertility. To sum it up quickly: when you are 35 years old, in the galley you will give birth!

Except that this age of 35 could well be put into perspective. On April 10, 2021, the Guardian published an article which reveals that the data which made it possible to develop this level are old: they date from France in the 1700s. Thus, when we say that only a third of women aged 35 to 39 succeed in getting pregnant afterwards. one year of trial, we are basing ourselves on statistics from a time when the average life expectancy was … barely 30 years.

In addition, a study published in April 2021 in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that the length of time that women are likely to have a child has increased. Indeed, puberty now comes a little earlier and menopause a little later. Thus, women are likely to have children for 37.1 years of their life. 35 years old no longer representing a sword of Damocles. In 2004, a study relayed by the magazine The Atlantic even shows that with sex twice a week, 78% of women between 35 and 40 were able to conceive a child within the year. This figure is not that far from the 84% of women aged 20 to 34 who do so under the same conditions.

The course of the “geriatric mother”

In medical language itself, we speak of geriatric mother or maternity at an advanced age to characterize women who want or will give birth after 35 years. They are given quite alarming advice on the difficulties to become pregnant, then the risks of complications related to their pregnancy, on the risks that the child incurs. However, as we have seen, all this stress does not seem so justified. Moreover, this pressure is only exerted on women, while men too are subject to fertility curves!

The quality of their semen also declines with age. Children born to older fathers are more likely to have health problems. On the other hand, men can be responsible for 20 to 30% of infertility problems in a couple.

Other environmental and societal factors are responsible for the decreased fertility, increased over time: overweight, tobacco, sedentary lifestyle, atmospheric pollution, endocrine disruptors … Data much more alarming than the age factor alone. However, we advise these gentlemen to hasten to give birth. The next time someone makes you a remark, do not hesitate to put off your interlocutor so that he meddles with what is going on in his own underpants!