With six kids already, do you really need more?

By now most of you have probably heard about the California woman who gave birth to eight babies this past week. What you may not have heard is that this woman is a single mother who already has 6 children. The eight babies just born (none weighing more than 3 pounds at birth), are the result of a fertility treatment, as you may have guessed.

This brings me to a question, one of many that I have about this situation. What doctor in his/her right mind would allow a woman already raising 6 children to go through a fertility treatment, especially when those treatments frequently result in multiple births? She now has FOURTEEN children to care for. 14 children to support not only financially, but emotionally as well. So often in the cases of multiple births that gain national or worldwide attention, people wonder how the parent(s) will afford all the diapers, food, clothing, etc. necessary for child rearing. But a question that rarely gets asked is how will those parents provide adequate emotional support to each child?

Not only that, but there are medical issues that demand debate. The human female body was not designed to carry 8 babies at one time. This is a woman having a baby, not a cat having a litter of kittens. Forgive me for being crass, but honestly! What is going on here? The babies just born are all severely underweight. They will remain in the hospital for many weeks in order to determine if their lungs are functioning properly, if their hearing or sight have been damaged, if their brain function is normal.

Then there is the issue of over-population. I am not advocating a one-child only rule such as exists in China. However we need to seriously examine the ethics involved in keeping all eight embryos if all eight implant in the womb. I realize this is a thorny topic, especially in this country with the culture wars around abortion still raging. At what point does someone simply have too many children? After a certain number, should people be forbidden to have more?

In my opinion, this woman is selfish beyond description. Calling her selfish will undoubtedly ruffle some feathers. But think about her children. How much attention can she give to each child? How will she have the energy to care for all 14 kids? I understand wanting a child. I also understand that some people want a large family. But there is large and then there is irresponsible.