Kirstie Allsopp: 'IVF is not a lifestyle choice'

The Location, Location, Location presenter says that the treatment should be a last option

Ella Alexander
Thursday 02 October 2014 10:08 BST
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Kirstie Allsopp has addressed female fertility again.

This time, she 'informs' that the matter of IVF treatment should not be taken lightly and reiterated her view that women should have children as soon as they can.

"I know that lots of people don't meet the right person and lots of women are panicked and unhappy and sad about this," she told Good Housekeeping. "It's not that I don't understand that everyone comes to different things at different stages in life.

"But IVF is not a lifestyle choice. It's a wonderful medical innovation which helps couples suffering from infertility, but it's not designed to be done because you are and your husband thought 30 was the new 20."

When asked what advice the television presenter would give her sons when they grow up, she says that she would tell them to hurry along the childrearing process.

"I would say, 'Darling, you're 27, your girlfriend is 27. Would you like me to help with the childcare?'" she answered.

In June, Allsopp said that she would encourage young women to put off going to university in favour of having children instead.

"I don’t have a girl, but if I did I’d be saying 'Darling, do you know what? Don’t go to university,'" she told The Daily Telegraph.

"'Start work straight after school, stay at home, save up your deposit – I’ll help you, let’s get you into a flat.

"'And then we can find you a nice boyfriend and you can have a baby by the time you’re 27.'"

She feels that society has "not been honest enough" with the issue of women's biological clock.

"Some of the greatest pain that I have seen among friends is the struggle to have a children," she continued.

"It wasn’t all people who couldn’t start early enough because they hadn’t met the right person.

"Women are being let down by the system. We should speak honestly and frankly about fertility and the fact it falls off a cliff when you’re 35."

She also appeared on Newsnight and debated the subject with and Jeremy Paxman and Vagenda magazine co-founder Holly Baxter.

Allsopp, who has always maintained that she is a "passionate feminist", said that it is her upbringing and appearance makes her her "own worst enemy".

"I'm a passionate feminist," she said. "I have never been able to understand why someone would say that because you are privileged, you wear heels and talk about up-cycling on the telly that you can't be a feminist. I don't get that."

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