Here are a Few Facts for People Shaming Janet Jackson for her Advanced-Age Pregnancy

In early April, Janet Jackson announced that she was postponing her tour. The reason? The star revealed plans to start a family with her husband. After news broke last Wednesday that the 49 year-old songstress was pregnant with her first child, people on Twitter reacted with confusion based on her age, and some disgruntled ticket holders with offensive comments. Janet Jackson Is Pregnant With Her First Child

Janet Jackson pregnant & she about to be 50…girl

— titi  (@_td0ll) May 5, 2016

How tf Janet Jackson pregnant at 49 years old🤔

— ozeeyk (@Ozeeyk) May 4, 2016

janet jackson is pregnant at 49,is that healthy?

— Black Don Jon (@CallmeArgentino) May 4, 2016

.@JanetJackson…What are you thinking? You're too old to get Pregnant. Too old to take the chance on #Birth Defects. #Real Life…

— Carnelia8 (@Carnelia8) April 13, 2016

As illustrated in Southern California Center for Reproductive Medicine’s infographic, as women age, the percent of normal eggs decreases. While complications can arise during pregnancies for women at any age, the fertility rate for women over 40 years old is five percent per month and ten percent when in vitro fertilization is used, according to ATTN. The National Institute of Health has also found that pregnant women over age 40 tend to have more chronic diseases and require more medical treatment. 13 Celebrity Moms Who Had Children After 40 “Generally … we’re talking about complication associated with the pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes and gestational high blood pressure. With those conditions, you just have them during the pregnancy, and they usually go away afterward. Those kinds of risks go up with age, and they take a big jump at 50, and at 55 they take another big jump. So typically women over the age of 55 are advised not to be pregnant,” medical director of the USC Fertility program, Dr. Richard Paulson tells ATTN. Study Shows Nearly Half of Pregnant Women Are Gaining Too Much Weight Despite these complications, medical advances have made pregnancy more viable for older women like Jackson who still want to have children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first birth rates for women over age 40 increased 35% from 2000 to 2012. For women over 50, it rose more than 165%. “The biggest misconception is that these people are getting pregnant with their own eggs [when they’re older],” Paulson adds. “Typically, people who get pregnant after the age of 45 are either not getting pregnant with their own eggs, unless they froze their eggs when they were younger.” So essentially, to quote Jackson in her latest video “Dammn Baby,” for all these Twitter trolls, “If anybody tell you what you can’t do, shut them down automatic.” WANT MORE FROM ESSENCE? Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.