Severino Antinori

Severino Antinori (born September 6, 1945, in Teramo) is an Italian gynecologist and embryologist. He has publicly taken controversial positions over in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and human cloning.

He began his career interested in veterinary biology. He studied at the University of Rome La Sapienza, graduating in 1972 with a degree in medicine. Initially he worked in gastroenterology, but following a lecture by Patrick Steptoe he re-trained in obstetrics and gynecology, moving into reproductive and infertility work from 1978. He set up his own clinic in Rome in 1982. In 1986, he pioneered the use of the ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) process in Italy. From 1989 he extended IVF to women who had passed the menopause.

In 1994, he assisted Rosana Della Cortes, aged 63, in becoming pregnant. She became one of the oldest women in history to give birth.

In May 2006, it was announced that 62 year old East Sussex child psychiatrist, Patricia Rashbrook, was seven months pregnant after being treated by Antinori, who said that 62 or 63 was the upper limit for IVF in healthy women. He commented that he would only consider couples with at least 20 years' life expectancy left for fertility treatment. Josephine Quintavalle, from Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE), accused Rashbrook of selfishness and said it would be extremely difficult for a child to have a mother who is as old as a grandmother.

In May 2009, after it was announced a 66 year old woman was pregnant he criticised her decision saying that he felt she was too old and may not live long enough to raise her child.