In a dark chapter of Canadian history, the Dionne quintuplets were a more popular tourist attraction than Niagara Falls.  Back in 1934, the first known surviving quintuplets involved no reproductive technology – ethical or unethical.  The Dionne girls were the product of one egg, fertilized during sexual intercourse, splitting into five embryos.  What happened after they were born was a different matter and this is where the parallel to the Suleman octuplets begins.

The Dionnes were poor uneducated farmers who already struggled to support their five living older children (a sixth had died).  The Ontario government made the Dionne girls wards of the state and put a staff in charge of their care, which, in accord with the science of the day, meant isolation from germs, including those which might be carried by the girls' mother with whom they were allowed minimal contact.

Back to the Sulemans. If you want to find criticism of how these children came to be, it is everywhere. I too will watch the investigation of the fertility specialist who implanted all of these fertilized eggs and the medical specialty now scrambling to prove it can police itself.  Nadya Suleman chose to have all of these children while the Dionnes did not.  But the Suleman children did not chose how they were made any more than the Dionne girls did.  And the Suleman children will not be able to control the way they may now be exploited any more than the Dionne girls could.

Looking at The Suleman Family Website [available in the morning of 2/16, by evening this site was down]  and reading about public relations reps. and reality shows, I am reminded of Quintland.  Between 1934 and 1943, an estimated three million tourists visited this Depression-era theme park in northern Ontario where these five little girls lived on display like zoo animals.  The Ontario government and local business made a half billion dollars from this circus, little of which came to the girls.  When, after nine years of litigation, the girls were returned to their family, they were sexually abused by their father who also marketed products with their name and image.  Still the public was more interested in owning a Dionne Quintuplet doll, than protecting the Dionne girls themselves.

The Dionne quintuplets should serve as a cautionary tale but fetishizing multiples continues.  Not lost on the surviving Dionnes themselves, they wrote an "Open Letter" in 1997 to the parents of another set of multiples.  It is a document which should be read by Nadya Suleman, and the Duggers, and Jon & Kate.  It is a plea from three old women whose lives, and those of the two sisters who predeceased them, were destroyed by the greed and prurience of family and community:

Multiple births should not be confused with entertainment, nor should they be an opportunity to sell products.

Now, who should be responsible for taking care of the Suleman children?  We all should, just as we all should be responsible for all children.  But there are people who bear a greater responsibility for these fourteen kids (yes, I mean all of Nadya's children) than I do and I think they should be ahead of me in line when the orthodontia bill needs to be paid. Of course, Nadya herself, who somehow thought money and child care would fall from the heavens to maintain her baby habit. But behind her, let's put the man who provided the sperm if indeed he either supported or did not forbid its use to make all of these children. Let's follow the sperm donor with all the medical personnel who were involved in the implantations.  Why should any of these people be allowed to remain aloof from the consequences of their actions?  If you are going to play a role in creating a baby, you should change diapers, buy food, pay bills, schedule and attend doctors visits (I am guessing a lot of doctors' visits).  Any idea of the time commitment involved in occupational therapy alone?  I do.  Alot. Nadya Suleman has one autistic child.  How many of the newest eight will have special needs?

I don't condemn Nadya Suleman for having children without being married or having a mate.  I don't condemn her for being unemployed.  If she hadn't been unemployed before she had kids, she likely would have been either unemployed or underemployed after she had kids.  In the U.S. there is very little support (economic or other) for mothers. I will condemn her if she exploits her kids.

I condemn both her and the medical professionals who took her money for treating children like just one more thing you can buy.  The Suleman octuplets came into the world as commodities, sold to a compulsive shopper by greedy technicians more concerned with selling the product than the physical or psychological well-being of anyone involved.

How about now we turn our attention to making sure these children, and all children, are well cared for.  One way we can do that is by refusing to watch the reality show or buy the octuplet-endorsed diapers.  Just say no. Let's turn our attention to all mothers who need help supporting their children and discourage parents from supporting large families by selling them.  Babies aren't just more stuff.  And parents have to be something better than pimps.