The Irresponsible Mom

I normally don’t get involved in any debates regarding pregnancy and childbirth — I’m a bit out-matched in my opinions as I am missing some defining details… namely, a womb.  I can’t birth a child, so in many ways my opinion here really doesn’t count. But lately, there has been a story that been all over the media — that of the birth of 8 children to one (yes, ONE) mother.  The infamous Nadya Suleman.

Upon reading the February 7, 2009 Times article, bile rose in my throat, my left eye began to twitch and a really weird rage I had previously reserved for the likes of George Bush (Sr. or Jr., take your pick) started to cloud my vision.  But before I get to the rant, let’s just review the situation of this new mother:

1. Ms. Suleman is 33, unemployed and has 6 other children
2. Ms. Suleman is no longer married.
3. Ms. Suleman has recieved approximately $165,000 between 2002 and 2008 in disability payments (for Lord only knows what)
4. Ms. Suleman admitted that she had broken US fertility treatment guidelines by having six embryos implanted in her womb: three times the limit suggested by fertility experts for women under the age of 35.
5. Ms. Suleman’s immediate family recently filed for bankruptcy and abandoned their home.
6. Ms. Suleman is seeking to sell her story for $2 million dollars and also has set up a website to accept donations for the care of her and her 14 children.

Am I the only one that sees this as absolutely, flat out, black and white WRONG?  This woman has been allowed to run amok as a baby factory with no means to support what children she has brought into the world.   Her grand plan is to solicit hand-outs from the world at large.  It seems that she has already done so with soaking the taxpayers for her “disability”.

How is she going to pay for the 46 doctors and nurses it took to deliver all these babies?  I seriously doubt that the bill will be gratis, even if this delivery made medical history in its magnitude.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  If this was a happenstance of nature, where Gaea was playing a little joke on a person, then I would absolutely want to help this family.  But that isn’t what happened.  This is a woman addicted to making babies with out consequence for how to raise them.

I am so angry I don’t even know how to properly address this issue.  I don’t just blame her.  After all, someone had to implant all those embryos.  She told someone in her family, presumably, that she was intending on enlarging the brood of children she has going on and, someone must have agreed to donate the damn sperm.  There is a whole series of people to be angry at.  And, even though I’ve never wanted to be a parent (let me stress here… EVER), my heart goes out to what it would be like to be one of the 14 children raised by this irresponsible person.  What kind of quality parenting can one expect when you are just one of the 14 mouths to be fed?

I’ve seen what it’s like for kids to get lost in the shuffle in schools where class sizes are large and personal attention is hard to come by.  How horrible would it be to have that same issue in your own home?

This woman is a real piece of work. Forgive me while I continue fuming.