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Article: The seven McCaugheys: babies as products. (dangers of fertility technology)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- December 19, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The recent birth of septuplets in Iowa is interesting at a couple of levels. It focuses our attention on the difficult moral questions raised by fertility technology, and the media reactions show just how odd and how callous we have become.
The couple who had the children had used fertility drugs because of their difficulty in conceiving their first child. When their doctors learned that the couple had seven fertilized embryos, the doctors advised "selective reduction" - aborting some, to give the others a better chance. The couple, evangelical Christians, refused. Bless them for that. At this writing the seven babies seem to be doing as well as premature children ...