Assisted Reproduction. The McCaughey Septuplets: God's Will or Human Choice
Assisted Reproduction. The McCaughey Septuplets: God's Will or Human Choice
The story of the world first surviving septuplets – the McCaughey children – belongs to the most wonderful and astonishing ones. Nevertheless, awaking thoughts of a miracle, it makes one think that there would have been nothing without fertility drugs the mother of the “Magnificent seven” took before conceiving them. Therefore, the issue arises: is the appearance of the septuplets the will of God or human choice?
The septuplets were born on 19 November 1997 within a short period of time (six minutes only) to a religious couple in Carlisle, Iowa. Their mother, Bobbi McCaughey, carried them for thirty one week only, so there remained around nine more weeks for normal children to develop. As the septuplets can be bravely called abnormal since doctors and all people around did not have any similar experience, no claims about pregnancy normality or abnormality of thirty-one weeks gestation with seven babies in the uterus could be made. The children had very low weight indicators: they varied from two and three pounds and a little more. The delivery was assisted by the team of forty different healthcare providers: nurses, perinatologists, anesthesiologists, and respiratory therapists. Only by the end of November, the septuplets started breathing on their own.
In addition to prematurity, children had other health problems that, in fact, were more severe. The oldest one, for instance, had to overcome eye surgery to get his blood vessels fixed. Joel had seizures, Nathan’s condition was cerebral palsy – spastic diplegia, which required injections of botox and orthopedic braces. Alexis suffered from cerebral palsy, but of different form – hypotonic quadriplegia, which made her muscles weak. This girl had also difficulties in learning to walk and speak. Moreover, she was feed through the tube in her stomach. At the age of four, Natalie, another girl, was still fed through the special tube as well as Alexis.
It is possible to suppose that the fact that all seven children survived is a miracle, but it was certainly not God’s will that seven of them appeared at the same time in the womb of one woman. Fertility drugs are taken when people have difficulties in reproduction. It was McCaughey’s will, not the God’s to have children. If it were the will of God, Bobbi would have got pregnant without taking any medications.
McCaughey couple wanted to have another child as their previous try was successful – their oldest daughter Mikayla was born due to her mother taking Metrodin – a strong drug that helped to overcome Bobbi’s diagnosis of a malfunctioning pituitary gland. This condition meant that her pituitary gland produced insufficient amount of follicle stimulating hormone; therefore, too few eggs matured each month and there was nothing to be fertilized.
The McCaugheys were suggested taking fertility drugs; having witnessed the treatment success for one time, they decided to fulfill their desire for the second time as well. Metrodin is rich in follicle stimulating hormone that enhances the ability of an organism to produce a larger number of oocytes than usual. Bobbie also received a human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), which assisted her organism in releasing eggs and uniting them with Kenny’s (her husband) spermatozoids.
This time the situation was different. The couple did not succeed to conceive Mikayla for one single time. They tried for one year; when it appeared that their efforts were not successful, the doctors prescribed another drug, which was going to solve the problem. Finally, they won, and Mikayla was born. After waiting for less than a year, the couple decided that their little child needs a brother or sister and, therefore, started taking fertility drugs again. Six weeks later, the doctors found out that Bobbie was carrying seven fetuses. Such a big number of fetuses for one pregnancy can be explained by different factors. The factor of chance cannot be rejected too. The most evident cause of this multiple pregnancy was improper medical management or the “side effects” of treatment. The first reason was probably stimulated by Bobbi herself. She did not want to take a necessary break after delivering Mikayla, but asked the healthcare givers for more treatment.
The couple believes that they were blessed by God. They understand that a seven-egg ovulation was stimulated by fertility drugs, but there was no confidence that all eggs would be fertilized later developing into normal children (“How to Raise Septuplets”). At that point, there was an issue of choice for them. Doctors, being aware of all risks and potential problems that could emerge during multiple pregnancy and after it, explained the situation to the couple and suggested a selective reduction to get better guarantees that the remaining fetuses could develop into the healthy children. Adhering to their religious beliefs, the McCaugheys rejected the offer and decided to let everything be as it should. In her desire to have at least one more child, Bobbie came so far that she rejected the chance to ensure better children’s state of health.
At this very point, the greatest part of all ethical issues arises. Some healthcare providers like Dr. Sauer claimed that the septuplets appeared as a result of “the overzealous use of fertility drugs”. Some claimed that it was a miracle. Many thought that the children appeared as a result of the medical failure. Despite all claims, the major reason of the septuplets’ birth was hidden in the McCaugheys’ actions. They wanted more babies and insisted on the continuous medication. It was Bobbi and Kenny who did not accept the option of selective reduction to allow the remaining fetuses to develop into healthier newborns. Their children were not granted to them by God, the McCaugheys made the decision by themselves. If God wanted to bless them with seven children, he would have done it without fertility drugs.
The attitude of Dr. Paula Mahone to McCaughey’s case shows the true dubiousness of the situation. Being both a religious person and an individual who used to make the decisions based on logic, she was unable to come up with the reaction that would have been right in this case. The article of Gupta focuses on a different set of septuplets. However, it touches the same issue as the case of McCaughey. Talking about a Muslim couple who refused selective reduction, Dr. Louis Keith, a real expert in multiple births, claimed that such a big number of babies born simultaneously would not end without serious complications. The outcomes, he said, did not meant “a triumph of medicine”, but a lifelong sentence to the parents as there was a little chance that all children would survive and live without serious health problems. If all babies survived, they could have suffered from serious neurological pathologies or cerebral palsy. The same thing is with McCaughey children: they managed to survive, but not all are healthy as Alexis and Nathan have cerebral palsy now.
The McCaughey couple can be understood as well. They had a desire to give birth to another child and tried the way, which was more appropriate for them. It was possible to do it through vitro fertilization, but the family could not afford it. Their actions can be justified since humans are ready to neglect many aspects in order to get what they want. Their religious concerns are grounded as well and it was up to them to do a selective reduction or not. Still, parents have to think about their children first. Unborn children must be taken into account as well. For this reason, the McCaugheys should have thought about their healthiness in advance and when doctors told them that such a multiple pregnancy was very risky, Bobbi and Kenny should have considered their recommendations.
Even more concerns are evoked by the media and family’s claims that septuplets are a blessing of God. There is no single proof in the medical history of humanity that one woman gave birth to seven children at once and that these children were all alive and well and did not die because of their state of health at a young age. McCaugheys’ septuplets were the first who survived, but the state of health of some of them is far from perfect. This fact makes one think that probably God’s will in this situation could not take place. It was a human desire to have something they yearned for.
Technological advancements allowed many things that previously were regarded as impossible. Medical discoveries gave healthcare givers the possibility to treat the diseases that were considered to be deadly hundreds of years ago. The development of medical science granted people with children even if their disorders did not allow them conceive a child in a natural way or without any invasion. Nevertheless, the human excessiveness and selfishness questions the effectiveness and value of this development. Thus, McCaughey sextuplets are claimed to be a result of God’s will, when, in fact, they are the outcome of the human choice as God does not need any intervention to bless people with something.
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