Doctor On LinkedIn Claims That Late Marriages Are A 'Pandemic' & Says 30-Years-Old Should Be The Maximum Age You Can Marry
He believes that marriage is all about making babies.
ZaitsevMaksym / Shutterstock, Reddit A man on LinkedIn believes marriage is for the young only and thinks there should be a maximum age for people to be allowed to tie the knot.
In a LinkedIn post, Dr. Rakesh Garg started by stating, “Marrying after 30 years of age is neither good for you nor for the human race! The quality of ova (human egg) and sperm starts decreasing as we cross 35 years of age.”
He describes himself, on his LinkedIn profile, as "a physician turned software programmer cum entrepreneur" and is based in India.
The doctor tells LinkedIn that the phenomenon of marrying after the age of 30 is a 'pandemic.'
Dr. Garg went on to say that older women have more difficulty getting pregnant and can even be afflicted with infertility, high-risk pregnancies, and complications during and after pregnancy — all true but not a justification for banning them from marrying. He discussed the potential for genetic disorders and claimed, “You can witness this from the mushrooming of IVF centers in every other building and every other ad about these centers on the radio, market size which is expected to double in 10 years.”
Photo: LinkedIn
He then referenced the lifestyles of celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, suggesting that the general public is taking their cues from them when considering freezing their eggs.
The doctor advised that those practices and procedures were difficult to follow due to the high financial and physical costs associated with them. He also said they were not “recommended as a preferred way to get pregnant.”
In the end, Dr. Garg called late marriages a “pandemic” and implored the government to pass a ‘maximum age of marriage law’ similar to the minimum age of marriage regulations currently in place.
People in the comments were quick to point out that despite his credentials, the doctor was under the false impression that marriage always involved having kids. In 2021 the number of married couples with kids in the United States fell to a record low of 17.8%.
Then, you must consider that from 2015-2019, the median age of marriage for women was 28 years old, while men married at 30 years of age. If the doctor is right, those couples either have to have kids together and stay married or they’ve missed the only chance they had at being a parent and finding a partner for life. With 41% of first marriages ending in divorce, those chances are dismal for many.
In the U.S. birth rates for women in their 30s is at the highest levels in three decades. That does come with increased risks for birth defects, miscarriage, and complications. But some studies show that while the risk is greater in older women, their babies may not have more issues than those of younger women, especially when treated in a high-risk facility for mothers and babies.
Barring reproduction, there are many benefits to marrying older in life. Couples can put their incomes to improve their financial positions and tax benefits. They are more mature and better at problem-solving. And studies find that single older adults live shorter life spans by about 10 years.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington. She covers lifestyle, relationship, and human-interest stories that readers can relate to and that bring social issues to the forefront for discussion.