By now, you may have read the story about the California mom who just gave birth to octuplets – that’s right, eight babies. While the mom, who had six children already, is not a celebrity, it is almost that the babies will be. After all, the mom is only the second person in U.S. history to give birth to eight babies at once. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t envy her!
All the babies are reportedly doing fine, but may have to stay in the hospital up to two months as a precaution. But, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding this story. The mom, Nadya Suleman told reporters that she just wanted one more girl to add to the six children she already has. All her children, including the first six, were a result of in vitro fertilization because, according to her mom Angela, Nadya’s fallopian tubes are plugged up. Nadya was married to Marcos Guitierrez, but records show they were divorced in January 2008 and that there were “no children of the marriage,” meaning the first six children were not Guiterrez.
By all accounts, Nadya seems to be a good mother. Her own mother said that her daughter “is not evil” but “obsessed with children” and is “very good with them.” She said that the octuplets are from the same sperm donor, but it isn’t Guiterrez.
Nadya and her six children lived in a home with her mother and father in a three bedroom home. ABC is reporting that Suleman’s parents filed for bankruptcy in March 2008. But as of the filing, her father Edward was working in Iraq as a contractor and expected to make $100,000 a year.
Now, other than not having a father for all these kids, living in a three bedroom home with parents who may or may not have filed bankruptcy (one report said they paid off the debt), ethical questions have arisen about Nadya being implanted with so many embryos to begin with. Fertility specialists are saying she never should have been implanted with that many embryos. Angela Suleman said her daughter was given the option to abort some fetuses or continue the pregnancy and she chose to continue.
One doctor, who helped deliver the babies, Dr. Harold Henry, said that Kaiser Permanente had no policy on providing fertility assistance to a mother who already had multiple children. He also confirmed that Nadya was given the option to abort some but refused.
U.S. medical guidelines say that, in a woman under the age of 35, doctors would not normally implant more than two embryos at a time. I guess after the age of 35, the chance of the implants taking are less, so they can implant more, just hoping one will take. About 5% of the time, embryos can split in the womb, so five embryos could have split into eight. But, the five is still above the norm of two being implanted.
What do you think? If she was indeed implanted with five to eight embryos, should she have been? Should the doctors have looked at her history and said that with six children already, she should be limited? Or should there just be limits to the number of embryos that can be implanted for anyone? And, I haven’t even mentioned the financial strain of bringing up 14 children – without a husband to help.