The Truth About Multiple Births

Dr Evans did a terrific job with this essay.
What a horrific decision for a couple to make, severly testing the strength of their marriage. And the trend of multiple births is increasing just as the trends which lead to it, namely delayed marriage and childbearing. Maybe if couples better understood the consequences of their decisions, they would not delay childbearing and put so much faith in science to rescue them.

AMS
www.FamilyThinking.com

As I read your article I am increasingly disgusted and shocked at the brazen lack of concern for the fact that those fetuses that you are selectively reducing based on factors that you can only speculate about are PEOPLE by every definition of the word! It sickens me to hear you describe the process. When will we stop trying to control everything and have things exactly the way we want them to be? If each and every one of these couples could somehow find a way to accept the fate they are given by their higher power--be it God, Allah, or simply mother nature--then high order multiples and the "recommended" selective reduction (which is abortion no matter what you call it) would never be an issue!

The issue is one of personal values. A patient decides. The physician is absolutely nothing more than a hired service-provider. Multiple births, though not my cup of tea either, are absolutely an individual preference. We are fortunate to have been born into a unique political experiment; to wit, an attempt to construct a system centered on the principle of the sanctity of the individual (with its implicit "free market" consequence). When anything intrudes on this principle, the experiment suffers. Lately, one of the salient intrusions is the argument that health care costs of the indivual should be considered superior to individual's liberty of lifestyle choice -- an especially unsavory argument when set forth by health care providers who, rather than accepting a market price for their services, have constructed a legalized extortion racket to provide an artificially inflated income (i.e., threat (implicit denial of full health care), payoff (protection money from each paycheck) called insurance. As with any greed-based intrusion into the free market's forces of supply and demand price-setting, the parasitic greed kills the host (e.g., the UAW and the american auto industry) and, ultimately, the parasite.

I agree with Treeling. Although it was many years ago, I looked in to adoption, foreign and domestic. I was one of the lucky ones; through treatments I conceived twins, so I did not look further into adoption. I was standing out in front of a grocery store selling cookies for my daughter's troop, and an elderly woman struck up a conversation with me. She said her daughters had been scouts, and one of her daughters adopted a girl from Russia. She wanted to adopt again, but the agency she went through has changed their policies; no one over 40 and no single parents. And this agency is a very well-known and reputable agency in my area.

I also want to add that in my scout troop I have a girl who was adopted from Russia, along with her brother. These children have a myraid of problems, both physical and emotional. This girl in particular is on more medication than I am and I have high blood pressure. She's a good kid, but can be challenging at times to deal with.

So I don't believe there are thousands of children waiting to be adopted or that agency would not have put restrictions on adoptions. Obviously, there are more parents than children to go around.

Bravo, Dr. Evans.

There is an old Indian saying that goes, "Do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins". And what I mean by that is not that I support what Nadya Suleman did in any way, because I don't.
What I am talking about is experiencing years of infertility, then treatment, not having it covered by insurance, spending every dime you make on this, just to have what other people take for granted. Anyone that ever experienced infertility knows what I am saying.
I did not have IVF, I had artificial insemination, and I looked into adoption, both domestic and foreign, and yes, it is way more expensive than IVF, not to mention the other problems associated with it, like were mentioned by another poster.
All of this is a personal decision, to go through the treatments, the pain and the potential heartbreak. I took that chance, and I was blessed with beautiful, healthy twins who are now almost 12. And not a day goes by that I do not thank God for my gift, because it truly was a gift, treatments or not. And unless you sit behind a desk, pregnant and hormonal, and listen to your doctor tell you that your life and the life of the 4 children you are carrying is in jeopardy can you understand the anguish one goes through in deciding on selective reduction. You just can't know what it is like.
Three months after my healthy twins were born, my husband of 10 years walked out the door and left me to raise these children by myself. My decision to selective reduce was the hardest decision I ever had to make. I truly believe things happen for a reason. How could I have ever raised 4 children by myself. Me and my children are happy and healthy. I have a good job, I have never been on welfare, and now over time, they have a relationship with their dad. We are just a normal, typical family. I have chosen over the years to put all that pain of the infertility treatments, etc. behind me. Not even my family knows the very personal choice I had to make. I do not like attention bestowed upon myself, so I keep all of what I have gone through private, unlike Ms. Suleman. And I have absolutely no doubt in my mind, when I see how happy and healthy my kids are, that I did the right thing. I know lots of people would not agree with me, and that's fine. All I have to worry about is myself and my children and God when I meet him in the next life. All I know is that there have been ups and downs, happiness and sadness in my almost 12 years of raising my twins. And all I can say is that I don't know how I would have done it with two extra children to care for. I don't expect anyone other than a woman who has gone through what I have to understand. I just am grateful for my blessings, that's all.

In my humble opinion, the doctor who implanted the embryos is just as responsible as Ms Suleman. He should have never implanted 6 embryos in a woman who already had 6 children through IVF. On another forum, someone said the doctor should pay child support for the children instead of the state paying her welfare payments each month. I think I almost agree with that statement.

In my opinion, the doctor who implanted that many eggs is just as responsible as Ms Suleman. She should never have had more children than the 6 she already had and he should never have implanted 6 viable embryos in her!

The headline teaser indicates "This is [my] fault. I beg to differ. If some stupid doctor implants that many eggs into a woman who already can't support 6 children, then he ought to be disciplined. SHe ought to be disciplined for having so many children she can't legally or financially take care of them. She relied on her mother for the first 6 - hey, guess what: Mothers of adults have already done their time (speaking for myself). This is no way, nowhere, no how "my fault." If he or she is speaking about the general fascination "society" has with multiple births, count me out. I had two children, 3 1/2 years apart and supported them through their entire childhood and somewhat into adulthood without financial assistance. I held a good job, went to college at the same time, and spent time with both of them (a boy AND a girl). They are both successful and responsible adults. One has a son himself, who couldn't be better loved and taken care of. I resent being told "that it's my fault" and lumped into some inept category.

Wouldn't it be more ethical to never give a woman more than two fertile eggs at a time through IVF? It would take away that possible risk, and save lives of innocent children.

I think it's terrible in general to terminate a pregnancy because the baby could possibly have Downs syndrome. Hitler rounded up people with "disabilities" and killed them- is our society much better than the one he was trying to establish??

It should be VERY clear to everyone that Nadia Suleman is a BIG liar. It looks like the motive for having kids was fame/publicity/money. She is very clever and manipulative. (See her old videos with boyfriend, changing statements about EVERYTHING, reality TV show)
Clearly she is NOT fit to raise kids. So her kids should be taken by Child-Services and given for adoption immediately.
After that she is free to do whatever ... reality TV show, Porno,...

We all have to realize that Ms. Suleman is not mentally competent to properly raise 14 kids. She has no job, dumped much of the responsibility of the first six kids on Grandma, and then suddenly decided that it was "God's" will for her to pump out more kids? Give me a frickin' break! She was not responsible with the first six...even 1 more kid was too much more for her situaution. The Grandmother described how it was to raise the six kids and how she shouldered most of the work for the kids...that is WRONG! Piles of clothes and other crap laying around the house and not put away cleanly??? Something is not right with this picture at all. Ms. Suleman needs tough love...NOT THE PITY CARD...and positive intervention from someone that cares enough to get her into intensive psychotherapy. It is a shame that these kids are the ones that will suffer the MOST!!!

Dear Dr. Evans, "crack down on egregious behavior" Your killing babies is egregious. You are "one of a small cadre of experienced, high-risk obstetricians who now offer selective reduction" Oh, it that we only because most experienced, high-risk obstetricians were morally above killing children. You do not say whether you kill children other than during selective reduction. Do you? You do say that you are motivated to help "couples who have suffered years of anguish" by not being able to have their own children - no matter how many dead children it takes. David Volk, Peoria, IL