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American Morning

'Creating a Life' Sparks Controversy Over Timing of Motherhood

Aired April 15, 2002 - 08:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we're going to take a look at some of the choices women make. Many young women put their careers first these days, hoping to become professionals first, mothers a little bit later on, and they assume that fertility clinics can help them conceive a little bit later on in life, but they can end up extremely disappointed, and that is the message people are hearing from the new book, "Creating a Life" by Sylvia Ann Hewlett that came out this past week.

And CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen spoke with some people who say this new book may be scaring women, women who are already scared enough as it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This mom knew that if she wanted to have a baby easily, without fertility treatments, she shouldn't wait too long, and so she didn't. 9-month-old Rahilio (ph) was born when Alyssa Lupo-Zulueta was 31 years old. An actress, she didn't let her career get in the way of having children, and she says her friends are the same way.

ALYSSA LUPO-ZULUETA, ACTRESS AND MOTHER: They don't want to wait until they're 40. They know that there are risks. There are higher risks once you hit the age of 35, 36, 37.

COHEN: But the media buzz around the new book says the opposite. The author says her research shows that the vast majority of high achieving women in their 20's and 30's are ignorant about infertility statistics, and so embrace briefcases instead of babies, assuming fertility clinics can always bail them out later on.

SYLVIA ANN HEWLETT, AUTHOR, "CREATING A LIFE": Part of the problem is that they focus like a laser beam on their career for 10 years.

COHEN: Caryl Rivers, who writes on women's issues, hasn't read the book but has seen the coverage, and calls Hewlett's message toxic for women.

CARYL RIVERS, PROFESSOR, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: The message, as coming across on the media, is clearly, Watch out, women, if you're ambitious, if you don't get married and have kids right away, you'll going to be miserable the rest of your life. COHEN: Melissa Ludkey agrees. The author of a book on motherhood, she was 46 years old when she adopted Maya (ph). She has read Hewlett's book and says if she listened to Hewlett's advise, she'd be miserable today.

MELISSA LUDTKE, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: I was married at just about the age that Sylvia Hewlett would suggest one be married, and that was in my late 20's. I got married at the age of 27. Had I followed her prescription and had a child simply because I was fearful, it would have been one of the worst mistakes I could have made, because that marriage was not a solid marriage, it was not a good one, and in fact, four years later it ended.

COHEN: Ludtke still wanted children, but couldn't find a man to have them with her, so she did it on her own.

LUDTKE: This is the best time in my life to give what I have to give as a mother.

LUPO-ZULUETA: Hey, wait!

COHEN: And that's how Alyssa Lupo-Zulueta feels, that no book can give orders, that for each woman the timing is different. And that's what she told a frantic young woman who asked her recently, when is the best time to have a baby?

LUPO-ZULUETA: Her voice was getting higher, and higher, and she started talking faster and faster. I just told her, you know what, relax. When the time's right, you'll know it.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: It will continue to spark a lot of debate across the country.

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