I agree with everyone here. I was practically shouting at my TV last night. It's selfish and irresponsible to put your wants and desires above the wellbeing of a child. Of course everyone dies at some point, and there's always a risk of a younger parent getting a horrible disease, dying and leaving their young children orphaned. But the chances of that happening are slim, and significantly increased when you are as old as those women were. Not to mention, if a younger person dies and leaves their children behind, there's a good chance they will have family - brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, etc - who could take the child in rather than letting the child go into care. Who do these old ladies have? No one. Their parents are dead, their siblings are about as old as they are, and none of them seem to have any other children. It's SELFISH and IRRESPONSIBLE and WRONG.
Grr, this whole subject annoys me. I could rant about it for days.