Reproductive Rights: Is There a Double Standard?

February 16, 2009

Fertile females can mother as many offspring as they please. And, though public opinion on the issue of big families may vary, it is a woman's right to reproduce. But, when Nadya Suleman recently gave birth to octuplets in addition to the six young children she already had a home (all conceived by donor sperm), a discussion was raised about her doctor's ethics. Is it fair for women who conceive naturally and those using fertility treatments to be judged differently?

25 Comments

nobodymuch 4 years 13 weeks

Forget about money, transferring SIX embryos is just plain unsafe, for both women and infants, in every possible way. There is a reason that octuplets do not occur naturally in humans. This was a completely unethical move on the part of her doctor. It's lucky that no one died in this debacle.

Roarman 4 years 13 weeks

It is unethical for a fertility doctor to implant any woman, financially stable or not, with that many embryos. It is not my business to tell anyone how many children they should have, or how they have them. But I do think it is a strain on our resources to have a large amount of children. Just my opinion.

Roarman 4 years 13 weeks

Chrstne 4 years 13 weeks

You should be able to have as many kids as you want if you can afford them. One child can put some people really deep in the hole. Diapers, doctors appt's, you name it -- all very expensive. 14 children just seems to be too much for any normal, average (or even a bit above within reason) income family to afford. A lot of the people you see on TV, like the Duggars (who are very sweet people, and who I have met and spoken with many times) do get help because of the TV show AND the government. John and Kate Gosselin have everything paid for by the TV show. Anyway, I think that people who cannot get pregnant naturally are looked at as selfish by not just adopting -- while people who conceive naturally, everyone has no problem with. It's stupid. A child is a child, if you long to give birth, but can't conceive without some help, what is the problem? That is not selfish -- that is looking out for and trying to satisfy your wants and needs. I don't think anyone has the right to comment on being selfish and not being selfish. You don't here others criticizing women who got pregnant naturally as selfish because they didn't adopt!

Chrstne 4 years 13 weeks

hippiecowgirl 4 years 13 weeks

I'm with smileyface, too.

hippiecowgirl 4 years 13 weeks

I'm with smileyface, too.

mstrauss 4 years 13 weeks

This woman will be putting 14 children in a 3 bedroom home, while she is collecting food stamps. If a woman conceived naturally and did the same thing, I think she would still get tons of negative attention, but it would definately be less insane since Nadya CHOSE to place that many embryos in her body knowing that she could not afford to give them all a healthy/good life.

janetwrogers 4 years 13 weeks

I think this woman could have some mental problems, and that, for me, is a red flag that the doctor should not have overlooked because if you're mentally disturbed you are not competent to make your own medical decisions. I've read that she has had lots of plastic surgery to look like Angelina Jolie, has been sending Jolie creepy letters, and that's not even touching her financial instability and the issues people have brought up above. The doctor should have at least determined that she was mentally stable at the bare minimum.

kerneschick2005 4 years 13 weeks

completely agree with smileyface. I don't mind big families, I don't mind a mother who wants many children, but as soon as that mother is not able to support that family, and THEN has 8 more children, there's a problem.

amers230 4 years 13 weeks

i was going to state my opinion but smileyface already did it for me, so what she said x2 haha

sarahinparis 4 years 13 weeks

I was going to say exactlly what smileyface said, so I'll just second (third) her comment. I don't care how many kids you have if you can support them. However, if you expect me to support them, then you really don't get 100% say. I personally feel that this is the general attitude society shares. There was initial support until people found out how ill prepared she is to handle this situation and then knowingly proceeded anyway.

sarahinparis 4 years 13 weeks

smileyface 4 years 13 weeks

Dana Ann congrats on being pregnant. I hope that everything goes well :)

bluepuppybites 4 years 13 weeks

I agree Franky, I don't criticize the right to have children, I criticize how she paid for the treatments, why she's even doing this and her comments on her life and her future, just irritate me. She really needs a wake up call cause she may live in the state that has Disneyland, she certainly is not living there. Oh and how much does a publicist make how could a unemployed person pay for that?

Frank y Ava 4 years 13 weeks

I've realized that I have critized the Duggars too harshly. They have the resources to take care of their children (free healthcare, built their own house, no taxes, etc) and when Michelle (that's her name right?) gets pregnant they have 7 to 8 months to prepare for the new baby (or maybe 2). Nayda has NO MONEY and no real plan to get out of this hole she's in. She also believes that she's doing it on her own (even though her mother is struggling with the 6 kids already and she's getting $400 from the state). Nayda is just plain delusional and I would criticize her wether she had IVF or concieved them naturally.

Frank y Ava 4 years 13 weeks

Dana Ann 4 years 13 weeks

I agree with Smileyface. I don't care how many children you have. I,personally, fully intend to ahve as many children as we can afford and I ahve to go about that through fertility treatment. This woman cannot afford the 6 children she had, much less these new babies. Also, the doctor that transferred 6 embryos into this woman put both her and her babies' health at risk. As someone who is finally pregnant with her first child after fertility therapy, I cannot believe that any sane doctor would be willing to take my life or my children's lives so lightly.

Dana Ann 4 years 13 weeks

melanie1422 4 years 13 weeks

There is a double standard for regular infertiles and regular fertiles. People always say, why don't you just adopt? to normal infertiles... they don't ever ask people who CAN conceive on their own why they don't just adopt. That said, this woman is obviously not stable enough to have 14 kids, and her doctor needs to have his license revoked for transferring that many embryos. We as a society can't put a limit on how many children one is allowed to have (unless we want to be more like China) but there should be limits on how many embryos it is acceptable to transfer into a young woman who has had 5 previous successful transfers. If the doctor had transferred a normal number of embryos (say, 2), then no one would ever have heard of this woman. She'd just be another welfare mom with too many kids.

smileyface 4 years 13 weeks

There is no double standard. The issue in this case is that this woman has no job, and already had 6 other kids that she COULD NOT AFFORD TO TAKE CARE OF. If you are financially stable and want to have a whole bunch of kids but cannot get pregnant on your own, then by all means go to a fertility specialist and spend your money to get pregnant as much as you can as long as you can provide for the children you have. But to continue to have children, naturally or artificially, when you can't afford it is selfish and stupid.