For those of us with small families, it's a relief when we are not the ones being criticized for our choices. When you have an only child, for example, people assume there is something wrong-with you physically, with the marriage, with your parenting skills. The very same people tell you that you should have another.
Television, newspapers, and magazines are feasting on news of the octuplets born in California to Nadya Suleman who is an unemployed, single mother. These multiple births by transferred embryos raise many ethical questions, especially when considered in relationship to the fact that Nadya already had six very young children. Nadya's mother claims that her daughter's brood is a reaction, in large part, to her being an only child. Really?
Based on what I've seen and read, it seems more likely that Nadya is vying for lots of publicity (she hired a publicist) and her own TV show. After all, The Learning Channel carries two shows devoted to following large families: one for Duggars, a family with 18 children about whom I've posted, and one called "John and Kate Plus Eight."
Large families have their own set of stereotypes as Kate Zernike points out in her New York Times article, "And Baby Makes How Many?" Transferring six embryos goes against accepted in vitro fertilization practices. For the safety of the babies and the health risks to the mother, Suleman's donating some of those embryos to women who can't conceive and desperately want a child would have made much more sense.
Embryo donation families resemble adoptive families
Embryo donation, in which the baby has no genetic link to either parent, is relatively new in the 30 years since the first birth by in vitro fertilization. Questions of how parents relate to a child not genetically theirs have been raised as well as the issue of disclosure: Do you tell your child how he or she came to be? "Embyro donation families may more closely resemble adoptive families than other assisted reproduction families," report Fiona MacCallum and Sarah Keeley in the Journal of Family Psychology and in Human Reproduction Journal.
Few studies have been done on embryo donation, but MacCallum and Keeley who looked at embryo donation in early and middle childhood found that embryo donation children did not have higher levels of behavioral or psychological problems-perhaps because most parents did not reveal the lack of genetic relationship. Or it could be, the authors note, that carrying the child creates a strong gestational bond and/or the strong parental desire and commitment outweigh the lack of genetic connection.
It's anyone's guess why Nadya Suleman transferred all the embryos (and why doctors allowed it), or if fewer than eight were transferred and some divided (although statistically unlikely). These are still unknowns to be confirmed. What is known: Unless she contracts for a TV show, Suleman will struggle financially, and the babies or at least some of them will face many challenges. Given the enormity of the problems, wouldn't embryo donation have been a wiser choice for Suleman? For any woman in a similar position in the future?
