I just found out the woman who gave birth to octuplets, Nadya Suleman, already had six children by in vitro fertilization, does not want to have a man in her life, relies on her father and an old boyfriend for financial support, and lives with her mother (who recently declared bankruptcy). That is INSANE. Is anyone else starting to suspect that today's ferility techniques are something of a curse? It used to be that nature somewhat limited the number of children people could have ; now multiple births are commonplace. Fourteen kids (all under 8, by the way) are going to grow up fatherless and quite possibly in poverty because their mother thought it would be fun to have lots of kids. The octuplets may also experience health problems from being born prematurely.
In my own defense, I'm not the only person who feels uneasy about this. Baby-product companies usually bombard mothers who've had multiple births with free stuff, but that's not happening this time. Fertility doctors are saying it's irresponsible for eight embryos to be implanted in one woman, and fear a backlash against legitimate fertility treatments because of this woman's doctor(s). Kate Gosselin of Jon & Kate Plus 8 disapproves, making it very clear that even with two parents it's extraordinarily difficult to raise a large family. Even Suleman's parents are troubled by their daughter's pregnancies. Her mother can't understand why she didn't just become a kindergarten teacher, and her father told nosy reporters that he hopes they get to experience the birth of octuplets, too, so they'll know what it's like to be in hell.
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6 comments:
What's disturbing to me is that companies don't want to "brand" this mother because she doesn't fulfill some American ideal mom (or parents) that they can slap a tag on.
I'm not endorsing Suleman's choice or the fertility clinic who aided her, but I think there is something to be said about companies that won't help out children. There's a double standard going on here.
Well, the companies were never in it for the kids anyway. Strictly a PR move. If the parent's unpopular, Gerber and Pampers won't touch the kids with a 1000-ft pole. In Suleman's case they would be viewed as aiding and abetting borderline-pathological, hugely irresponsible behaviour.
I'll be disturbed if child welfare doesn't step in to investigate just how she's going to support 14 children while not working and receiving child support for only 6 children. And I'll also be disturbed if her dr(s) aren't investigated for flagrantly violating standard fertility practice.
Its not like that one woman before Jeff and I left MN when she had seven babies at once that time. Is she trying to copy that era and get a good response because from what i am seeing she is not getting any hand me downs with this BS..
This blows my mind too. She already had six and wanted more? Seeking more children when she has that many is not a sane or rationale act.
I think we can all take some of the blame for this. We make a huge deal out of multiple births, watch TV shows about them, celebrate them, etc. So a woman who's already had 6 kids sees all this attention and all this free stuff that's lavished on moms of multiples and thinks, "Hmm, if I can get my doctor to implant about half a dozen eggs, maybe I'll be that lucky." The fact that Suleman has already hired a publicist indicates what she expects out of the situation. And it's the public who created that situation, along with corporations who lavish the moms with goodies, a few fertility doctors who are less than scrupulous, and a media that uncritically turns multiple births into overhyped "miracle" stories. The more attention we give to these births, the more of them there are going to be.
I'm uncomfortable with the whole business as well.
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