blog.bioethics.net

UPDATE: And Baby H Makes 8...No, 14!

As the story over the California octuplets born this week has unraveled, the ethical issues surrounding their birth have expanded beyond those of just the health and welfare of the mother and 8 tiny little fetuses but to questions of social justice and the choice of the mother to have 8 more children, period.

Of course, as a MSNBC article clearly articulates, the "birth of octuplets is not a medical triumph." I think Art Caplan put it best when he said, ""I think when the press goes googoo and gaga over these multiples, they don't seem to understand that it's really risky for the mothers and for their fetuses."

But since the announcement of these octuplets' birth--the plot has thickened. As if eight babies wasn't enough for any woman to handle, it turns out that Babies A through H already have four older brothers and two older sisters at home, a mother who has already filed for bankruptcy (according to one CBS news report).

These facts raise serious questions about the mother's decision to pursue this most recent pregnancy at all, given that at least one of her previous pregnancies was a multiple birth (she had twins), and that in this case she pursued fertility treatment.

I point the finger at the fertility clinics--both of which allowed this mother to exponentially grow her family to a size that no woman (even with the support of her mother, which whom she lives while her husband is in Iraq) could support. Even with an entire village, which it would take to raise 8 newborns and 6 children between the ages of two and seven, it is unconscionable that a fertility clinic would implant eight embryos into this woman in the first place.

I wish all 14 of these children the very best start in their lives. My only fear is that they may not be able to get it in a household with enough members to have three strings of a basketball team.

Summer Johnson, PhD