Friday, January 30, 2009

Loving Mom Or Litterbug?

A newborn baby with umbilical cord ready to be...Image via Wikipedia

Can we talk about those octuplets? Everyone else is. I know this topic doesn't have anything to do with teens, but it will in 13 years! I'm just a little ahead of my time.

In case you haven't heard, a 35-year-old woman in Whittier, California (that's in Southern California, BTW), just gave birth to EIGHT children! Amazingly, they are all thriving, though still pretty small. I think the smallest one weighs about a pound. The first day the news came out, it was celebratory and joyous: "WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO OCTUPLETS AND THEY'RE ALL HEALTHY!" Then, as the media put this woman under their overnight microscope, they dug up some disparaging facts about her: She's a single mom, no father around, unemployed, on welfare, can't pay her medical bills, lives with her parents, and get this . . . she already has SIX children (two sets of twins included)!

So now this woman, a media darling just a few days ago, is being crucified in public, and everyone has an opinion (including me). A good majority think that this woman has no right to give birth to all those children because she can't even afford to take care of the six she already has. Some are faulting the hospital that assisted her in the fertility treatments. Others think she turned herself into a baby machine to scam and milk the government for public assistance.

And then there's the taxpayer argument. All those good, tax-paying citizens are enraged that they now have to foot the bill for raising these octuplets. Come on! Lame argument. Yes, we pay taxes, but do we REALLY know where our tax dollars are going besides to help bail out billionaire crooks? The government can't even keep track of the $2.7 trillion in taxes it collects every year. Our tax dollars pay for a lot of things: educating our young, repairing potholes, warmongoring and the like. So what if we're buying a few diapers and some formula, too? Spread the wealth, as our new president says!

But the scariest debate I have been following is the one about how there should be some government measures in place to limit the number of children women have based on their economic status. In other words, if you're poor and can't afford to mother even one child, you shouldn't be allowed to have 14.

For the record, I think this woman is NUTS! As a single mother of two children who keep me sprinting all day long, I can't understand why another single mother of SIX children would want to take on EIGHT more! That's just crazy math.

But the point is . . . it's her life. It's her choice. If she wants to have another litter after this one, we have no right to tell her that she can't. That's what's so great about this FREE country that we live in.

And whoever doesn't like our limitless options, can pack their bags and move to China, where, I understand, the government has been known to take a very active role in matters of childbirth.




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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Would you want to support the 14? Share the wealth? Take from your two to support 14? nice...

Lynn said...

I hear what you're saying, Kimberly. A lot of people feel the way you do. But keep in mind that we are also supporting about 20 million illegal immigrants in this country. I don't understand why there's not more of an outrage over that. At least her children are American citizens. And don't forget that whether we like it or not, she has a constitutional right to have as many children as she wants.

BloggerChick said...

I think we should all remember also that she didn't plan on having 8 kids - she thought she might get one or two at the most. But then she did get 8 out pure fluke. Should she have killed them even thought it would have gone against all of her values? The law has no place when it comes to our values.

Also, she's in school, not just sitting around the house eating candy and watching soaps. She's going to be done her doctorate in, I think it was 2 years, and will be a contributing member of society.

I'm loving your blog by the way! Very interesting.