Modern medicine amazes me sometimes. Diseases once thought deadly have been tamed. Pills are available to treat all kinds of ailments that use to shorten how long we live. One also needs to be amazed at all the work done around genetics. But sometimes just because science can do something doesn’t mean it should. Just like the development of nuclear weapons, using science to have children you can’t support on your own is stupid. Nadya Suleman, who delivered only the second living set of octuplets ever born, made the wrong choice to have more children especially because she had no job and six children already at home. That’s what bothers me.
I think that if a woman wants to have a child and the only way to do it is by insemination then that is her choice to make, but she also has to consider, just like when conceiving children through intercourse, some serious questions.
Can I properly support children – do I have a job, one that pays enough and provides enough insurance for health care. Or am I in a relationship where that support can come from my partner or adds to my support.
Do I have enough home support – do I have enough time and stability to provide emotional support and love to my children. If I am married is my marriage supportive enough to maintain a stable household.
Is this right thing to do at this time.
When I heard that Nadya Suleman had no job and six other children at home, I lost all respect for her. She made the wrong choices. Children just don’t need a loving mother. They need good health care, food on the table, clothes on their backs, and a stable home. When the only parent has no solid foundation for any of that then the children can suffer.
I know there are women who want a child and aren’t able to have them for one reason or another. More power to them if they use medical science to conceive or if they adopt. Most people I know who have gone this route are proud parents and the children well taken care of.
And don’t think I have these concerns about women. I also think the questions apply to men. I once knew a guy who thought his manliness was confirmed based on the number of women he got pregnant. When I heard that I wished he could be castrated. But that is just me.
People like Nadya Suleman give parenthood a bad name.