Guest Author - Cassandra George Sturges
When the Bible said, be fruitful and multiply—one woman took it literally. Nadya Suleman, the mother of the octuplets born in California, should be the poster child for right to lifers. As a mother of 14 children she has reproduced more than her fair share of human beings to help populate the earth. However, is it socially and economically responsible for a woman to have as many infants as her body can reproduce or does society have a moral obligation to determine how many children a woman can have based on her level of income?
If Ms. Suleman was a multimillionaire or financially independent no one would have questioned her decision to have 14 children; but because she has no income and she lives at home with her parents her children’s medical and basic needs will be provided for by taxpayers’ dollars. I pay taxes for many things that I may not totally agree with such as the war where hundreds of people have actually lost their lives. But to me the biggest issue is not the monetary needs of the children, but their social and psychological well-being and whether or not they will be able to live healthy productive lives and reach their full potential.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have six young children and I don’t hear anyone complaining about their children’s physical well-being or psychological needs because they have enough money to take care of them. Yes, having enough money is a major factor in being able to provide stable living conditions for a child-- but it is definitely not the most important factor. For Example, look at pop star Britney Spears parenting skills. She is wealthy but her children primarily reside with their biological father, ex-video back-up-dancer and struggling rapper, Kevin Federline. Look at Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and Courtney Love due to their alleged drug abuse history they have not been exactly positive parenting role models either.
I don’t think that Nadya should be publicly reprimanded for not having enough money to raise her children-- because money is not the primary foundation that builds character, integrity and honesty. She should be denigrated for not loving herself enough or her children enough to think about the emotional investment that will be required so that her children feel truly loved by their mother. As she will learn, finding food, shoes and clothes will be the easy part—but when one of her children want to be held a little longer and there are 13 other children wanting to be held la little longer at the exact same time—not by their neighbor, nanny or grandparent—but their mother; this is when the child’s suffering will have the biggest impact on himself and society.
