You Drove Me To This

I really didn't want to do this, especially after the uproar caused the last time I went on a rant about multiple births but after reading this latest piece of news I can no longer hold my tongue.

"The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week already has six young children."

The LA Times has had the best most-up-to-date reporting on this story due to repeated interviews with the woman's mother.

The mother, now identified as Nadya Suleman, is a 33-year-old mother of 14 (including the octuplets). She is divorced and she lives with her parents. Her father is going back to Iraq as a contractor to help support his new grandkids.

Suleman had 8 frozen embryos implanted (from a sperm donor) in hopes of having one mroe girl. Her mother has repeated this claim though most people think this is impossible. In fact, Surgeon General Dr. Sanjay Gupta once said no responsible doctor would ever implant more than 3 embryos.

When Suleman discovered that she was expecting multiple babies, doctors gave her the option of selectively reducing the number of embryos, but she declined.

What Suleman has done here (with the help of some unethical people) is the height of irresponsibility. First of all, why does a woman with 6 kids need fertility treaments? Second of all, why did she choose to have 8 embryos implanted? And finally, even though it's an incredibly hard decision to make, she should have reduced. Health risks are so great with mega-multiples she was ready to risk some or all 8 of the babies and her own life (which would also affect her previous six kids).

But what sickens me most about the story is the treatment this woman is getting in the media and will probably get in the future. News anchors on every channel are cooing over what are sure to be 8 little adorable bundles of joy. And Discovery Channel and TLC are probably lining up to give this litter-maker her own TV show, which probably was her motivation in the first place.

And all the religious zealots calling the hospital hoping to donate cribs, diapers and 8 little matching onesies saying "if you think I'm cute, you should see my 7 brothers and sisters" should be ashamed of themselves. What this woman did was not noble, it was disgusting.

In a world where so many deserving couples struggle for years, many unsuccessfully to have just one baby, this freak show popped out 14. Doesn't seem fair now does it?