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Oldest woman to give birth dies in Spain: report

By AFP

A Spanish pensioner who became the oldest woman in the world to give birth in 2006 when she had twin boys at the age of 67 using in vitro fertilization has died, local media reported Wednesday.

Carmen Bousada, who was single, died on Saturday from a cancer which was diagnosed just one year after she gave birth to Cristian and Pau, daily Diario de Cadiz reported citing her brother.

She gave birth to the twins on December 26, 2006 at Barcelona hospital after undergoing treatment at a US fertility clinic, sparking a worldwide debate.

Bousada admitted to lying to US doctors at fertility clinic about her age, saying she was 55, so as to not be rejected as a patient.

Spanish law does not set an age limit for fertility treatments but the majority of clinics turn away women who are over 50.

"Everyone should have children at the appropriate moment," Bousada said in an interview published in British tabloid News of the World one month after she gave birth to the twins.

She said she had waited until the death in 2005 of her mother, who she had looked after for several years, to carry out her dream of becoming a mother, 18 years after going through menopause.

Bousada told the newspaper she was confident she would live as long as her mother, who died at the age of 101, and become a grandmother.

After she was diagnosed with cancer, she told Spanish television that her nephew and their godfather could look after the twins if she died.

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