Anti-Octo-Mom Laws Proposed, Even In Georgia
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Anti-Octo-Mom Laws Proposed, Even In Georgia
The mother of octuplets is inspiring lawmakers in some states to consider laws that would prevent her situation from happening again, even here in Georgia. But, there are serious ethical concerns....
The mother of octuplets is inspiring lawmakers in some states to consider laws that would prevent her situation from happening again, even here in Georgia. But, there are serious ethical concerns. Elizabeth Cohen reports.
Published: March 4, 2009
Atlanta, GA—Octo-Mom Nadya Suleman lives in California…and some Georgia lawmakers like State Senator Ralph Hudgens don’t want this to happen in their state.
State Senator Ralph Hudgens, (R) Georgia: “She is not married, she’s unemployed, she is on government assistance, and now she is going to put those 14 children on the back of taxpayers.“
So, Hudgens and some fellow Georgia legislators have introduced the so-called Octo-Mom Bill.
Suleman says she wound up with octuplets because she had six embryos put in her womb…an unsually high number. The proposed bill would make that illegal in Georgia. It would limit the number of embryos a doctor could put in a woman…for women under age 40, no more than two embryos…for women over 40, no more than three.
Fertility doctors says limits like these could hurt a woman’s chance of getting pregnant. They say three embryos are enough for most woman, but that some with special circumstances need more.
Dr. Daniel Shapiro, fertility doctor: “What this bill will effectively do is shut us down and patients seeking reproductive care in Georgia will go to Tennesee or South Carolina or Alabama. They will just leave…“
Lawmakers in Missouri are considering a bill like the one in Georgia…and Italy and England, for years, have had laws limiting the number of embryos that can be transferred at one time…all in an effort to prevent another Octo-Mom.
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