As I am sure a lot of you know at this point, last week a woman in southern California gave birth to not one, not two, but eight babies. She is a single mother, a grad student, and already had six children under the age of 7 from in vitro fertilization. This means that now she has 14 children under the age of 7 from in vitro fertilization. Besides for the many issues around how she is going to afford to have so many children and why she kept going back for more and more in vitro fertilization procedures, my main issue is why a fertilization doctor was willing to keep taking her back for more and more procedures. I mean seriously, the woman clearly is not having issues getting pregnant and is only 33 years old (which means she started in vitro stuff when she was 26 years old). So my question for you, dear wonderful blog readers, is do you think it is ethical to take a woman who already has six kids from in vitro to have even more kids from in vitro? Let alone ethical to implant her with six embryos at once when the medical standards say you should only implant one or two in women under the age of 35?
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4 comments:
i think her doc probably made a bad decision.
but to be honest, it bothers me that these stories of multiple births are big news. clearly, the woman made a choice. she could have aborted any number of the fetuses. while that may sound cruel to some, women who get in vitro do it all the time and for good reasons. and, i think the choice should be afforded some privacy. even if the mother does not want that privacy, i shiver at the thought that reasoning behind having extreme multiple births is consciously or even subconsciously for the media attention itself.
Good, and sticky, question.
I feel that this decision falls under the (real or imagined) umbrella of reproductive rights. I would find it hard to be pro-choice and simultaneously in favor of capping the number of children that any family can have, by any means. Yes, in vitro involves in-between experts while conventional conception does not, but I would be concerned about the precedent set by allowing doctors or (worse yet) the government to determine how capable you are of supporting your family. I get the screening process for adoption, but as far as I know, our legal system as currently defined allows for complete freedom in situations where a woman carries her own child(ren) to term, and I'd be troubled if it were otherwise.
If a cap was to be established somehow, who would be responsible for determining who was allowed to reproduce, and to what extent? The possibilities and potential for abuse make me uncomfortable.
The point about safety is a different one, though; if it's not safe to implant a certain number of embryos, then that is a medical issue, and should be managed by the physician.
While this seems to be a matter of "choice" on the part of the mother, both in terms of pursuing in vitro, having how ever many kids she wants, and whether or not to publicize it, it certainly appears that the docs did not follow ethical guidelines.
Similarly, there are guidelines for assuring that child welfare standards are met, and I am sure she will get close scrutiny in her ability to adequately care for her childrens.
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My main question about this (esp. with recent news reporting the >$500k price tag on these births) is: if she is unemployed and was already supporting 6 kids, how the hell did she afford fertility treatment?? While it can certainly be her choice to have as many kids as she wants (in my hometown, with a high % of Mormons, I had several friends with 8+ siblings, and no one seemed too concerned about that), are health care programs obligated to pay for you to have more than (say) 2 kids??
At somepoint, your "priority" in treatment should decrease radically. Otherwise, we are just asking someone to abuse the system like this -- and ultimately that is what has people upset (well that, and concern for the long-term wellbeing of her kids -- all 14 of them). You can choose to have kids, but that choice comes with a great deal of responsibility.
An update on the legal reaction to this story.
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