The birth of octuplets has been running front and center in news broadcasts for the past 10 days. The woman who gave birth January 26 to these little ones, Nadya Suleman, has been the target of a great deal of criticism since these babies made their way into the world outside their mother's womb. Suleman already has six other children. According to an exclusive story from usmagazine.com, Suleman's mother said Suleman was an only child who yearned for siblings when she was younger. Perhaps she may be trying to make up for a lack of brothers and sisters by making sure that her children have plenty of siblings to go around.
I have listened with interest to those who have railed against this woman for giving birth to octuplets. She is a single mother who had six embryos implanted (two of which transitioned into twins), leading to the multiple births. Reports that the babies were conceived through in vitro fertilization has sparked a debate over the ethics of such treatments and the ethics of having that number of children through that process. Doctors usually use from two to four embryos in fertility treatments (as not all eggs will survive, typically), not as many as six. Doctors at Kaiser say Suleman's eight babies so far are making good progress.
I have noted that liberals and conservatives alike have united on this issue and have made critical judgements on this single mom. Now...this column certainly won't address all the issues with this, but let me pose some questions.
1. For those who are "pro-choice" - Why is it ok for a mother to choose to kill her baby in the womb, but not ok for a mother to choose to have multiple children? What does a mother really have the "choice" to do? Are they really not "pro-choice?" Would it be more accurate to say they are simply in favor of the right to kill unborn children?
2. For those who are "Pro-life" - Why is it ok to choose life for a baby...as long as it meets what you believe to be a responsible number of lives? Should we become like China and begin to regulate the number of births we allow in each family?
3. For all - Who or what determines a responsible number of children? For some, one may be too many...for another, fourteen may not be enough.
What does encourages me about the focal point of the news coverage on this matter is this...apparently life does matter. Receiving love does matter. Being responsible does matter. Looking down the road and examining our future does matter.
How responsible are we being with the lives that God has given us...our own lives...our children's...our spouse's...our friendships...our influence? God has gifted us with life and we have a responsibility to nurture, develop, exercise and give of our lives to the glory of God. We are not to live for self, but rather for Christ. To squander our lives is to squander what God has designed to be a holy image of Himself.
Again...I ask...what are you doing with life?
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." Colossians 1:9-12
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