Fertility help - should people have access if they already have children?
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
January 30, 2009 2:05pm CST
In light of all the hubbub about the mother with octuplets who already HAS six children, my understanding of 'fertility help' has been demolished.
I had previously THOUGHT that fertility help was something that a couple looked into if they were unable to conceive naturally or keep a pregnancy viable without success - ie maybe able to get pregnant but kept miscarrying.
I did not think that fertility help was readily available to just anybody for any reason, I thought that you had to demonstrate somewhat of an inability to get pregnant or stay pregnant before it was warranted. Kind of like many doctors will not put tubes in a baby's ears because they've had ONE ear infection, they want to wait till they have several or it looks like a chronic problem, or they will not remove tonsils unless a child has had multiple cases of strep and tonsillitis and it is obviously affecting their life because they are sick or recovering or getting sick constantly.
Anyway, I see a lot of comments written or said that 'just because you can, should you' and I agree. What is the POINT of having fertility help and having a high chance of multiple births if you already have several children, especially very young children or stairstep children, so close in age that having a batch of multiples will make it extremely hard to care for everybody?
Granted, in an IDEAL situation for instance, if I had billions of dollars and a live in housekeeper and I never had to worry about money or clean my house or anything like that, had a stable loving marriage, then I think the amount of kids would depend solely on our limits emotionally and physically. I do not think I would want to have THAT MANY though, 14 would truly be a test of anybody's life. It is impossible to give individualized attention to that many children just by yourself. Financially it would be EXTREMELY rough given the economic climate, not to mention how the hell would you have a home or property large enough?? What about a vehicle? Buy a BUS?
Would it be feasible to ask questions like - are you financially and physically independent? Do you have other children? What is your reason for wanting/needing fertility help if you ALREADY have other children?
I am totally for and support fertility help for couples who are unable to conceive or unable to keep a pregnancy going. It is not fair to withhold help from someone who cannot get pregnant or stay pregnant when that is ALL they want to be able to do. I don't think it matters either how old the mother is, whether she is 20 and having fertility troubles or whether she is 50 and having fertility troubles. Honestly, what should be looked at is fulfilling someone's desire to be a mother AND that a couple (or mother) is stable before it is okayed. I feel primarily that someone wanting fertility treatment needs to be independent and financially stable - able to care for themselves AND for a baby or multiple babies, and that they are emotionally ready to be a parent.
Do you agree? Why or why not? Do you have a different view entirely? I think if someone is independent and financially secure and healthy that it shouldn't matter at all, but in many cases, people are NOT independent and NOT financially secure, so that's what raises the questions for me.
2 people like this
3 responses
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
30 Jan 09
I believe fertility clinics are a WONDERFUL asset for someone who can't get pregnant!!! I'm appalled that a woman with 6 children could just go in & buy 8 babies...an unhealthy number for both herself & her unborn children. Now the doctors are throwing their hands up saying it's not my place!!! I believe it IS THEIR PLACE!!! They claim they warned her of the possible dangers. If she had the money for this procedure, why was she living with her parents??? Since she has a husband, why weren't they living together??? Why is the husband not considered the father of these children??? Why is the industry not regulated to where this doesn't happen??? I thought her out of her mind before I heard of the 6. Now I worry about the safety of ALL the children involved!!! Oops, sorry, getting a little off topic there.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
1 Feb 09
You know, those things bother me. Like I said in the initial post, I believe that people who go to fertility clinics or ask their doctors for help need to demonstrate first that they can take care of themselves. They should also show good faith that they can take care of a baby, or two or three or four babies if they implant more than one! When couples adopt, they make sure the couple is financially healthy - and they also take a pretty hefty chunk of money from the couple for the chance of them getting to adopt. I don't think that couples (or singles) who are co-dependent on THEIR parents, have no income, are not healthy, or already have other children are considered as good candidates for adoption - and rightfully so. I feel the same ethics need to be applied to fertility!
I mean obviously SOME couples who already have kids and would like more and go to adoption as a choice INSTEAD of getting pregnant should have every right to - again as long as they are independent and self sufficient and can take care of another child in addition to themselves and the children they have already.
I agree that the doctors should NOT have implanted so many - given the fact that so many babies become a risk to each other as well as the pregnant mom. I also see no reason for them to have done that at all with her having six other children - and they are all fairly YOUNG children! One set of them twins! What were they thinking? It sounds like the clinic paid HER, not like SHE paid them, because if she could afford to pay for this treatment herself, there is no way she'd be living with her parents. I had heard from the news article that she didn't have a husband, that she used donor sperm or something, but that the children all have the same father?
@newzealtralian (3930)
• Australia
9 Mar 09
I don't believe in using fertility treatments if you are a single mother and already have a brood of kids. It makes a mockery of what IVF is supposed to be about - helping couples with fertility issues have a dream come true.
Before I had my kids, I was facing the possibility of not being able to have any, and because we didn't have a lot of spare money, fertility treatments were not going to be an option. I was at peace with that, and was going to just keep happy with my animal babies instead. That was until I met my gynocologist/obstetrician when I encountered an unusual problem, and within a month, i was pregnant with my first baby.
There are many selfish people out there who make those who genuinely require the help look bad. Having said that, where was the common sense of the fertility specialist who treated the woman who had the octuplets? They should have said no, considering she was a single mum of 6 and was under the watch of welfare services. She herself was very selfish. Where is the line going to be drawn?
And the mature aged women who have already started/finished going through menopause, what on earth are you thinking? Your child needs stability, not the prospect of losing their mum at a very young age!!! You had your chance and didn't take it, so don't make a further mockery out of services for those who are of child bearing age and genuinely require fertility help.
Like I said, where are they going to draw the line? Are they going to allow young teens to use fertility treatments just because they have the money for it and just want a baby for the sakes of having a baby? they are barely more than babies themselves and don't really want the responsibility that comes with motherhood.





