Multiple Births: Jon & Kate and Octomom

Articles, television shows, and news stories are everywhere recently about people who are giving birth to multiples. Some very well known examples are Jon and Kate Gosselin from Jon and Kate Plus 8 on TLC and “Octomom” who recently gave birth to octuplets. Jon and Kate Gosselin have twin girls and gave birth to sextuplets in 2004. Octomom also had six children already before the birth of her octuplets. (There are several other examples of families with multiples, but I will focus only on these two.) These two families were only able to have multiple births through the use of assisted reproductive technology. The increasing amount of attention being paid to these kinds of families and their use of assisted reproductive technology has prompted controversy and questions about our culture.

On the surface it may not seem as though there are any problems inherent in having multiples. However, there is much to take into account, especially financially. For instance, Octomom was not financially independent when she gave birth to her sextuplets. Also, she is a single mother and did not have a partner to assist her in raising her total fourteen children. Another issue about giving birth to multiples is that the babies are premature and can have complications from that. We have yet to see the full consequences of multiple births, but we will as time goes on and the children get older.

Culturally, there are several things that we should look at. What is it about our culture that glorifies having multiple children, especially with one pregnancy? I think that we are just intrigued by extremes. It is unusual for people in America to have many children, let alone with one pregnancy. I do not think that we as a culture promote having multiples, but I do think that we are simply interested in seeing what life would be like.

Why do we as a culture choose to use assisted reproductive technology? I think that we as a culture (and maybe more specifically our generation) are not getting married until later in life. I think we value being an individual and creating a life for ourselves before we choose to get married. However, once many couples get married they are older and have trouble having children. We are also very used to have immediate satisfaction and getting what we want so we resort to using assisted reproductive technology.

Perhaps this is a phase and as a culture we will get over our interest in families with multiples. In the mean time, however, I think we should realize why we are so interested in these families and think about the consequences that may come from giving these families so much attention and therefore money.