Who's

I wonder if Perkins was an english major, because that was an excellent example of using current events to set up what he really wanted to talk about, even if they are not related.

The doctor could have easily explained to Ms. Suleman that he could not help her because of the safety issues associated with implanting 6 embryos.

Perkins, of course, seems to be ignoring the whole point that Suleman followed the conservative line of considering her embryos human life and did not allow her embryos to be destroyed. Wasn't Perkins and his ilk who fought against use of embryos in stem cell research? When the Duggar family, a nice white Christian family with a show on TLC, had its 18th child, did he make any kind of denunciation?

P.S.

Japhy,

I strongly object to your use of the term "ocotomom." It's a horribly dehumanizing label. The woman admits to having some kind of mental illness or instability. No matter how cute or fun the label may seem, it's wrong on many levels: it's sexist, dehumanizing, and cruel.

Gay people have had similar labels tossed at them. You are better than this.

I like the label "octomom" and I personally am not going to stop using it.

BTW – Statistically how many of her bread will turn out to be gay?

Labels "tossed" at gay people are for who they are and how they were born. This idiot brought this on herself.

Octomom is offensive? Guess I should stop calling her Madison Square Womb.

@Gregoire: Madison Square Womb is far more apt. Octomom implies she's 8 moms, not that she had 8 kids (at once). The 'correct' name would be Octospawn.

Blake needs a waaaambulance. Seriously.

As for this Perkins queef…I just have to roll my eyes at any male that thinks he knows what motivates women to reproduce on any level. That's the one aspect of femininity that's essentially forever sealed away from men. Leave the discourse to women, ok?

@Sebbe:

I guess whether she brought this on herself depends on how you look at severe mental illness.

That having been said, I have no problem labeling Mr. Perkins. I think he fits the definition of 'asshole' quite easily.

Perkins is so confused.
There's a difference between objecting for "social" reasons and objecting for health reasons — that's a physician's oath-sworn JOB, idiot! Gah!

Plastic surgeons refuse surgery to people all the time for safety/mental reasons.

Wait, I thought lesbians were responsible for forcing unwilling people into the gay lifestyle. Now is seems we're causing a nationwide breeder fetish? That crosses the line, Tony!

This crap about Ms. Suleman making her own choices and deserving to suffer for it is nuts. By the virtue of her being mentally ill, she is unable to make good choices.

Her doctor should have assisted her. Ms. Suleman's mother explained in her interview that she and her husband spoke to their daughters fertility doctor but he ignored their please. The doctor, according to publish reports, charged tens of thousands of dollars for fertility treatments. Could that have been one of the reason why he chose to proceed with assisting Ms. Suleman?

Also, the question of reproductive rights for the poor are always under question. Had Ms. Suleman been a wealthy, married woman no one would say anything. Instead, because Ms. Suleman is a single mother with limited means there is a harsh reaction to her.

Americans have had a strong and sometimes brutal reaction to the poor reproducing. This was infamously demonstrated through the horrific eugenics laws that allowed for forced sterilization from the late 19th Century until the early 1970s. Poor whites, orphans, people with illnesses, and people of color saw their reproductive rights eliminated through the whims of those in power.

There, I don't care if you want to call me names. Whatever. The fact remains that making fun of someone who obviously suffers from an illness is wrong.

Moreover, if you can't look at how this woman is being treated in the context of our society's overall treatment of women, class, mental health, and reproductive right then you should read more and maybe remember the manners that your parents (should have?) taught you when you were a kid. Just because some moron thinks it's cute to slap a label on Ms. Suleman doesn't give the rest of us an excuse for poor behavior.

I like "Octopussy." But I can't claim credit, I read it at Huffington Post by Steven Webber.

In a world with over 6 billion people that is expanding at an alarming rate and the trashing of the planet and it's resources to support that many humans, we should be working toward limiting our numbers, not increasing them, as the Vatican is directing the Christian world to do.

I can't, for the life of me, understand why anyone, in this day and age, should feel that they have a God-given right to have as many children as they feel like, poor or rich, whether it is 8 children or 18 children and that is especially true if the burdon of supporting that many kids falls on the taxpayers.

No one would deny the right of a couple to have a child, even if they are so poor that they cannot support it. But what is the justification for having 8 kids that they cannot afford to take care of, besides exercising their "civil-rights"? It's nothing more than a giant fuck-you to the taxpayers.

In olden times, when most farming was still done by hand, having large families was desirable in order to have more hands to work the fields. In today's mechanized society, there is absolutely no reason, or justification for having that many children. Even China, no matter how we may criticize that country, has had the good sense to limit how many children a couple may have.

And we wonder about the madness of lemmings?

she's a dog she should've been put down a long time ago

It is especially hypocritical considering the reaction to multiple births in the past, albeit by a nice white christian women…

"Predictably, a spokesperson for the conservative Family Research Council hailed McCaughey’s decision to disregard medical advice and not abort any fetuses as “a wonderful example for this country,” adding that it proves “the community can come together and provide for the need of those who are faced with a crisis pregnancy and are having difficulty thinking about how they’re going to provide for their new child.”