14 Under 7

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the lady in California who gave birth to octuplets. While I am thankful the babies all survived the birth and are doing well I don’t feel like this birth should be a celebration. Instead, it should be a scary lesson of how *not* to handle fertility treatments.

The woman who birthed these 8 babies already had 6 at home—all under the age of 7 and according to the grandmother were all conceived via intro fertilization. So this means that she now has 14 babies under the age of 7. She also lives with her parents, has no domestic partner and is jobless. While I 100% support a woman’s right to reproduce I feel like this is child abuse. There is no possible way to give all 14 babies the love, attention and care they need.

No one would try to raise 14 puppies at once so why do it with human beings?

This also raises a lot of ethical questions. How many children is too many? Should a woman who already has children undergo fertility treatments? I don’t know what the magic number is when it comes to having too many children. But I definitely feel that 14 under the age of 7 is too many.

I also want to want to state that I am a firm supporter of fertility treatments. I feel when done properly they serve a very special purpose by allowing a couple to conceive. I was extremely fortunate that Chad and I were able to get pregnant after only 6 weeks of trying. Not every couple is that lucky. If, for some reason, Chad and I weren’t able to conceive on our own I would have undergone fertility treatments. However, I *never* would have allowed 8 fertilized eggs to be implanted into my body.