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THE MCCAUGHEY SEPTUPLETS HAVE REOPENED THE DEBATE ABOUT INFERTILITY TREATMENT IN A DRAMATIC WAY

by Caitlin Burke

LUCKIER THAN THE FRUSTACI FAMILY -- of whose septuplets only 3 survived, and those turned out to have cerebral palsy -- the McCaugheys' wish for a sibling for their daughter brought them 7 babies, all born alive ten weeks premature. The family says they just want to live a normal life in their Christian home, but they have a media relations representative, and they've accepted dozens of gifts on behalf of their children, announced in regular press conferences.

The McCaughey case raises many questions. What are their lives like? How does it feel to "want children" and end up with septuplets? How healthy will these children really turn out to be? And who will support them if they do end up chronically ill and/or disabled? The case also raises questions about personal responsibility. The McCaughey's beliefs prevented them from having the selective abortion of some of the septuplets that could have improved the health of the remaining children as well as allowing the parents some control over the size of their family. But their actions created a situation in which they require the assistance of their community in order to survive as a family. Where does personal choice meet community mindedness?

Larger questions abound as well. What are the implications of life in a culture that exerts so much pressure to have babies? Is it better to risk multiple births and myriad health problems in your children than to be childless? Are those risks truly preferable to the experience of adoption?

Infertility has loomed large in our consciousness at least throughout the history of the United States, and has usually been bound up in ideas about womanhood and participation in society. Infertility has shifted in the minds of Americans from a chiefly spiritual and social issue to a largely medical one, and the advent of drugs like pergonal have even made it possible to take a pill to get a baby. And pergonal is a noninvasive answer; in vitro fertilization and implantation allows a couple to "conceive" a number of embryos from which a small number are selected for placement in the womb -- sometimes of a woman other than the child's biological mother.

Even before we get to such sticky issues as prenatal testing, abortion for genetic defects, or genetic manipulation of embryos, we're mired in relatively basic questions: Is pregnancy a right? A crucial aspect of being a woman? Is having a family a necessary rite of adulthood? How far is too far?

What do you think of the McCaughey septuplets? Tell The Net Net!

Read responses from the December 15th issue.

RESOURCES

CNN Septuplets coverage

The Net Net review of Empty Cradle: Infertility in American from Colonial Times to the Present

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