According to the Canadian Press, a British Columbia woman, age 44, just gave birth to her 18th child, a girl who weighed almost eight pounds. Her oldest is twenty-three. Her husband, Alexandru Ionce, said he wouldn't say no to more children: "We never planned how many children to have. We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that's the reason we did not stop the life. We let life come."
The large family is out of fashion these days, but maybe it's making a comeback.
Mother of four Katie Allison Granju writes on Babble.com about wanting six kids, and about how she doesn't feel her choice is widely respected:
While we do appear to have a pop culture fascination with big families - witness the interest in the Duggars, Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and even the Jolie-Pitt brood - our focus is somewhat akin to the way one would observe a circus sideshow act, complete with requisite smug ridicule. In fact, many of the people I know personally who make it a point to actively support reproductive rights don't seem to believe that those rights should also extend to actual reproduction; this is especially true for pro-choice folks who seem to believe I am committing some kind of heinous eco-crime by giving birth.
We never would have thought having a passel of kids would be controversial if you can take care of them, but judging from the feedback so far people have very strong feelings about the relative benefits and dowside of having birthing a small army. What do you think: heinous eco-crime, or god-sent miracle?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 9)
1.
Ada, I smoke.
Not a lot, only after sex.....This family would give me lung cancer.
mac at 2:49PM on Jul 29th 2008
2. God-sent miracle - that the father can afford to raise all these kiddos. I say the father because the mother can't possibly work when she's constantly pregnant/nursing/mothering 18 CHILDREN!
Heinous eco-crime - Imagine if every couple decided to do this...
Mokele Mbembe at 2:59PM on Jul 29th 2008
3. The name of the "God" that guides them is "Eros".
Mokele Mbembe at 3:01PM on Jul 29th 2008
4. Congratulations on your new baby! God has truly blessed you. I am the 12th of 13 children. I will keep you in prayer!
janesophie1 at 3:26PM on Jul 29th 2008
5. As a mother of five I say if you can afford it have as many as you can handle. We do have a choice and my husband and I chose to have five.
god-sent miracles!
Siobhain Lavery at 3:30PM on Jul 29th 2008
6. Congratulations on your new baby! God has truly blessed you. I am the 12th of 13 children. I will keep you in prayer!
janesophie1 at 3:30PM on Jul 29th 2008
7. God-sent miracles.
As a mother of five beautiful children, I say have as many as you can afford! We do have a choice and my husband and I chose five. I never pass rude remarks to those who choose few or none so why should I listen to rude remarks about my choice?
Siobhain at 3:34PM on Jul 29th 2008
8. This is horrifying.
Ryan Anderson at 3:34PM on Jul 29th 2008
9. I don't know this family, and the Duggars seem like a nice family. However, the Mr. and Mrs. Duggar are also part of a movement of ultra conservatives who want to ban birth control across society. They use conservative politicians (Mr. Duggar was once a GOP Congressman, I believe) to push their beliefs. Do what you want, have 30 kids if it makes you happy, but when you try to shove the belief on the rest of us that birth control is bad, and use the political process to do so, then we have a fight on our hands.
David S. at 3:37PM on Jul 29th 2008
10. there is no such thing as birth control. sex is sex is sex. no such thing as safe sex. girls get pregnant either way!!
Sally at 3:39PM on Jul 29th 2008
11. Sally; the pill works pretty well. This gives back control to women over the reproductive process. That's not a bad thing.
Ryan Anderson at 3:41PM on Jul 29th 2008
12. If I am alowed to do so, this priest couldn't have said it better - Go Fr. Stan!!!!!!! :
I was at the airport
Opened up the paper-
I was shocked at what I saw-
Talk about a new law coule it be a new rule
Or was it just another fool
I had to read it again-
Thought there was somethin I was missin-
Could it be it was the truth-
Comin from a politician-
Or was it just wishful thinking what I was readin
Or was it just an attempt to stop our national bleedin
A new kinda law-
To overturn Row v Wade
To get the nation back on track-
With how we use financial aid-
All the hotsy-totsy people getting worked up in a tirade
Republicans and Democrats
Under-worked and overpaid
The next time in the court-
Death presented opposition-
The demon started screamin-
About the truth of our position-
They saw their end comin destined for the grave
Ain't this the land of the free
And the home of the brave
Thou shall not kill
But not on Capital Hill
Ya let us do it with the doctor
Or we do it with the pill
Mommies ain't safe in the streets
But if a thug come and beats
Mommy over the head
And leaves the baby for dead
Ya say it's fine but it's tragic
We can't stop it with magic
It's politically bleak
It's cause we're spiritually weak
Y'all try to cover up the scam
With illegitimate silence
Check it "I'm here to defend
Unborn victims of violence"
Let's let freedom ring-
Bring it to the Senate-
These are the dogs-
Who gonna try to prevent it-
They will never admit it-
The government's the culprit-
There is silence in the clergy-
Some won't preach it from the pulpit-
Congress is afraid to speak-
They livin like a puppet-
You gotta watch ya never know
Who got their hand on a string
We'll never really find out
What happened to Kennedy and King
Too many educated lawyers-
Could the situation worsen-
Is it really true they don't believe-
It ain't a fetus but a person-
Governmental desecration
Multi-million lives been spent
What will it take for them to learn
The right to life is self-evident
Legislation makin bad laws-
Year to year case to case-
Destroying the culture-
Poison the market place-
This is the land of the free-
This is the home of the brave-
As we movin on we steppin back we livin like a slave
Livin in denial sleepin in a grave
The embryos are frozen the suicide's assisted
You call this freedom "wake up" this is seriously twisted
Sally at 3:42PM on Jul 29th 2008
13. As the mother of 16 children, I am often met with comments and questions. One of the questions is always "why"? My response to them is always the same. Roe v. Wade guaranteed women the right to do with their own body what they choose to do with it. I chose to have 16 children. I would have liked to have had more. Why is it so acceptable in this society to kill an unborn chid in the name of choice but horrible for a woman to choose to have a large family? I think our values are all messed up.
Inez at 3:43PM on Jul 29th 2008
14. ryan -
yes, i agree, but it's still wrong & immoral and against the Catholic Church.
For some reason AOL won't let me post so that's why i'm posting on here
Sally at 3:44PM on Jul 29th 2008
15. good 4 u inez. keep it up!
Sally at 3:50PM on Jul 29th 2008