neurotwitch

most multiple births (especially with this many children) are the result of fertility drugs - so this couple _really_ wanted to have a baby, but wasn't able too - and apparently didn't want to adopt.

as a "breeder" it's hard to see a problem with any of this, but i do know that there are limits for this sort of behavior.

when in vitro is done, there is a high risk of multiples - the woman is usually on some pretty powerful hormones in an attempt to make at least one ovum "stick" and grow to viability - and in some cases, the fertility doctors offer what is called a "selective reduction" - in other words, they offer to remove or abort some of the fetuses.

when the parents are as desperate to have a baby as some of them are, they don't choose this option, so you then have multiple births with a high yield - like four to seven or higher.

now, i don't see how this is a "burden ... on taxpayers," but i see how it might be a burden on the planet.

on the other end of this extreme, you have china, which encourages low birth rates, to the point of essentially taxing families to grow too big. for some reason, the chinese favor male children - but i seem to recall reading recently that there is a significant difference in the number of boys and girls in china - so it looks like they're screwing themselves in the other direction.

We don't know if they didn't want to adopt. We also don't know if she really was unable to have babies because they already had a kid - their own. Maybe she was trying to induce twins -- who knows?

I have no problems with people having kids (within limits - like three or four max) or even people have lots of kids if they've adopted kids.

What do you mean, not a burden on taxpayers? Who pays for their education? Who pays for the portion of medical care that insurance companies and out-of-pocket spending doesn't cover? Who pays for the landfill that houses their pampers, or the water, sewage, and all kinds of other resources they'll use?

So what's wrong with encouraging a low birth rate? There are six billion people on this planet -- that's plenty. We don't exactly encourage high birth rates here -- look at the crappy deductions you get on your taxes, for example.

Oh, so while we're at it, lets make mentally disabled people, the poor, the homeless and anyone who's on social security or welfare pay their own way and if they can't then screw them? They're getting help from the public, but they're not giving back, right?

And the "crappy deductions" I get on my taxes are more due to the wonderful form of "government" that we have in this country - not anything else.