It’s been almost a month since 33-year-old Nadya Suleman gave birth to eight children in California and the spotlight still hasn’t dimmed. Some may know her full story, others don’t. Regardless of what people have heard and what they haven’t, plenty of Californians — and Americans for that matter — have a strong opinion about it.
It’s hard to say what the biggest problem is with this octuplet mother. It could be that Nadya already had six young children at home, all through in vitro fertilization (IVF). It could be that she is living with her parents in California, in a home that is close to foreclosure. It could be that she is unemployed and dependent on her parents.
But the main problem people seem to have is how many embryos Nadya was implanted with. She had six embryos implanted, under the impression that most of them would not grow and she would end up with, at the most, twins.
As it were, she didn’t have twins. Two of her six embryos split and Nadya ended up with eight babies growing inside of her. Yes, the doctors warned her of uterine rupture. They warned her of prematurity and disability in the babies, which could still occur. But none of these deterred the intent and stubborn mother.
Even though Nadya’s mother Angela Suleman is helping to raise her grandchildren and even though Angela’s helping her child too, Nadya wasn’t satisfied. She had left over embryos from her first IVF pregnancy and she didn’t want them destroyed.
So Nadya had them implanted. She could have donated them, but they were her eggs. Her children. To recap, this is Nadya’s rationalization of what she did; IVF has a low success rate so implanting six would result in, at the most, two babies. Her embryos would go to waste if she didn’t implant them because they would destroy them and they’re lives.
But none of this seems to explain why she brought more children into the world when she was struggling to support the six she already had. Some have theories that she was trying to get money, but in recent interviews she’s been refusing all monetary assistance.
As many Americans that have opinions about Nadya’s octuplet birth, so do the talking heads. Some of them, such as Bill O’Reilly, feel Nadya should undergo psychiatric evaluation. Others say her fertility specialist should lose his license to practice medicine. To be honest, both of these might need to happen.
During recent interviews Nadya has finally admitted that it was a bad decision to implant her remaining embryos. Hopefully charities and churches will come to the aid of the Suleman family so that the 14 children are taken care of. Nadya may have brought eight more lives into her world, but she’s willing to take responsibility and put the well-being of the children first.
If her fellow Californians have hearts, they will stop complaining about the strain on their pockets via tax dollars and do the same.
The LG Blog 