The Octuplets: Irresponsible Acts of Being Born
So, sometimes I get sucked into the sensational stuff. I hate it, but it's true. I try to avoid stories that attract a lot of media hype, but sometimes I can't help myself. I hate reality TV, too, but I watch Hell's Kitchen.
I'm saying all this to hopefully excuse myself from what I am about to write. Yes, it is about the octuplet mom, Nadya Suleman.
Conservative talk show host Bill Handel in Los Angeles called for people to boycott any companies that support the octuplet mom. While searching the internet for his comments, I discovered scores of bloggers and other personalities calling for the same thing. Hmmm.
I wonder how these people with their noble boycott who are seeking to harm the octuplet mom will avoid harming the octuplets? After all, is it their fault their mom made some irresponsible decisions?
And we can argue all day about that, whether Nadya Suleman was irresponsible when she had six children through IVF, even though she was unmarried. We can argue all week about whether or not she was irresponsible when she chose to have eight more embryos implanted at the same time.
Our conclusions don't change the fact that she does not have 14 very expensive puppies to take care of. These are BABIES. A boycott is not going to harm their mother as much as it will harm them.
Is that what these morally upstanding boycotters are trying to accomplish? Their mom dared to have them, so by God, we'll make sure their lives are miserable, poverty stricken and filled with neglect! Yay for us! We sure showed those babies! We don't tolerate irresponsible acts of being born, not in the USA!
I can't help but draw another very obvious parallel. Obvious to me, maybe not obvious to the likes of Bill Handel, who by the way is pro-life.
What does Bill Handel think should have been done with the octuplet mom's leftover embryos? Certainly not destroyed. Definitely not donated to stem cell research.
That's a pattern I see in almost everyone who is "pro life," by the way (and I am against abortion myself, though I don't think it should be illegal). They support the unborn, but not the born. Their interest in the subject ends after the child comes into the world. Protect the unborn, but after birth you're on your own, you kid whose mom wasn't emotionally or financially prepared to have a baby.
But I digress. Yes, Nadya Suleman was irresponsible, bringing that many babies into the world as a single mom. She's going to have a tough time looking after 14 children, no question.
But let's not forget that children do not choose their moms. Those children deserve the best shot at a happy life that their mom—or all those diaper, formula and baby wipes companiesm—can give them. Boycotting them and everyone who helps them is nothing short of mean-spirited.
I'm sorry that Suleman will profit from those media deals or freebies from baby-product companies (or will shem—doubtless all the money and freebies she gets will go directly to her massive childcare and medical expenses, without a lot leftover for parties and fancy dresses). But let's not forget that you can't boycott the irresponsible mom without boycotting the babies.