What, No Gifts?

Finally, the maligned mother of Octuplets born recently has emerged and given her first television interview. After all, everyone has been wondering who is this single mother, with no job that would chose to have 8 additional kids when she already had six. Not in recent times has the decision to have children caused such a fervor as this woman’s decision to have octuplets via artificial insemination.

In fact, normally with a multiple birth like this, it is customary for companies to hand out freebies to the parents of the children to help ease the financial burden of having to take care of so many children. But in this case, not a company has emerged to share in the joy of the Octuplets. What’s interesting is the outrage that the births have spawned and most of it seem centered around the fact that the mother is unmarried and already had 6 kids.

While I also have some concern about the mother’s decision to have eight children and wonder whether the mother plans to get a job to support these children or live off the state, I also find it ironic that many are angered that she isn’t married. For the last few decades, our country has made it seem old fashioned or outdated for a person to be married in order to have children. This is why the fervor surrounding the single status of the mother has caught me off guard. After all, she is merely following the new societal norms in having children out of wedlock. If nothing else, the current situation provides a great parameter to continue the discussion about having children out of wedlock and what responsibility the state should have in support a woman who choses to have eight children via artifical insemniation without a job.

What do you think?