“I was struck by his beauty in miniature, his perfection,” he recalled. “Before his birth, I thought I would weep copious tears, and goodness knows I brought along enough hankies, but when I first saw him I was awestruck. I thought: ‘Here he is after all this waiting, and we’ll be together forever because I’m his daddy.’”
Inside the brutal backlash
Today, having children later in life is more accepted. In fact, for the first time in 2023, more women over 40 gave birth in the U.S. than teenage girls.
But back in 2006, many people wasn’t ready for Patricia’s story.
The backlash against Patricia Rashbrook was swift and brutal, with critics harshly condemning her decision to become a mother at 62. As a child psychiatrist, it was suggested that Dr. Rashbrook should have known better.
Some even called her decision ”undignified” and ”absurd”.
Jon Gaunt, writing for The Sun, didn’t hold back, declaring: “The news that the selfish 62-year-old, Patricia Rashbrook, has ‘given birth’ to a baby boy makes me sick to the pit of my stomach.”
Karren Brady, in the Birmingham Mail, dismissed the idea entirely, comparing Rashbrook to aging rock stars who father children late in life.
“I know that there are wrinkly old rockers like Michael Douglas, Rod Stewart, and Mick Jagger who are fathers to young children, but they are because they can be. Women of the same age aren’t because they can’t be. Or shouldn’t.”
Josephine Quintavalle of the lobby group Comment on Reproductive Ethics slammed the couple’s choice: “It would be difficult to find anybody in this country who thinks it’s a good idea, and I don’t think it’s an example to be followed.”
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