Suleman, a California mother of six, was single, unemployed and living on public assistance when she implanted six embryos and gave birth to octuplets. Her inability to pay the ensuing medical costs caused an uproar among taxpayers angry over the idea of having to supporting a women who had more children than she could afford.
Why was Suleman implanted with six embryos when two would have been the recommended number for a woman her age? Should her fertility doctor be held responsible? As the details of her pregnancy and personal circumstances surfaced, the focus moved from 'Octomom' (as she was dubbed by the media) to those who provided reproductive assistance.
Legislation is pending in California that would place fertility clinics under the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California. According to the Capitol Weekly, the newspaper of California government and politics, the state is home to 14% of the nation's fertility clinics, making it the center of the assisted reproduction industry. Southern California, where Suleman lives, has a disproportionate number of these clinics. The bill outlining these new rules was introduced on February 27, 2009, exactly one month and one day after the Suleman octuplets were born.
In Georgia, a bill that would imit the number of embryos a woman could create and implant through IVF was proposed, but no action on it was expected to take place in this session.
A similar piece of legislation introduced in Missouri would punish doctors who violate guidelines set down by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine regarding the number of embryos implanted depending on a woman's age, health and other factors.
