Thirtysomething

That's a Whole Lot of Family

Wow. I haven't really spoken with anyone about the whole octuplet thing that seems to have a so many people buzzing. Partially because, um, I don't really care that she had 8 babies-- that's so her nightmare to deal with, not mine. Also, because the infertility community goes a bit beserko if you criticize anyone who has undergone fertility treatments.

My understanding is that there are many ways to eliminate or greatly reduce the possibility of having a pregnancy of eight freaking babies when undergoing fertility treatments and that, for the most part, doctors and patients are fairly responsible for doing what they should to reduce the possibility of multiples in excess of two or three. So when I heard about the octuplets, I had the passing thought something had medically gone awry.

Now it comes out that the woman has 6 other kids.

So now, you know, I sort of have an opinion. Who the hell let this woman who has 6 kids undergo a pregnancy that resulted in 8 additional kids? And on the other hand, how do you put limits on someone's reproductive rights? I mean, I guess no doctor is going to say "Really? You already have 6 kids, you don't need a 7th." But this is eight additional kids, who, while they are doing very well by all accounts, were at a tremendous risk for all sorts of medical problems AND who, as far as I know, qualify for medicare pretty much from birth.

Sweet Jesus.

Labels: society

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 10:27 AM