Octuplets: A Frankenstinian Moment in Modern Obstetrics (#LibHippos)

Thousands of articles have been written about the California woman who now has 14 children, 8 of whom were just born all at once, together. There is almost an obscene fascination with this story. It is something one reads in The National Enquirer not in the mass media. It is grotesque, a freak Circus Act. Human beings do not give birth to litters, only animals do. And yet-here we are. The woman’s gone and done it.

But who has 14 children? Very religious people sometimes do. They are often opposed to abortion and/or do not value advanced female education or well paid female work outside the home (this includes a relatively small number of Chasidic and ultra-orthodox Jews, Catholics, and Christians), but the number of collective their progeny pales in comparison to that of Mormon and Muslim men who practice polygamy. Osama bin Laden’s father had 57 children.

Now, without resorting to polygamy or marriage (there is no husband in sight, only a sperm donor), a single mother has joined these hallowed ranks: Nadja Suleman, 33, was the divorced single mother of three sets of twins (six children) before she became the single mother of eight more children, born in California on January 27, 2009. This is sheer female ambition, perhaps as well as madness…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>