If, like us, you've been following the heartbreaking saga of the Kehoe twins, the detailed piece in the New York Times on the murky politics of surrogacy will reconfirm what you already knew: the issue is a mess. This case might be called the ultimate test, involving as it does as many variables as possible. But it brings to the fore issues that affect many surrogacy cases. Because unlike adoption, surrogacy is largely unregulated. And in a case like this, where no one party is biologically related to the babies, lawmakers are basically making it up as they go along, state by state. Explains the Times,

Instead, surrogacy is controlled mainly by fertility doctors, who determine which arrangements are carried out and also earn money by performing the procedures. And while some agencies that coordinate surrogacies and some clinics that carry them out strictly adhere to guidelines, others do not, the interviews and records show... Between brokers, legal and medical expenses and surrogate fees, a successful surrogacy can cost prospective parents $80,000 to $120,000. About an estimated 100 agencies advertise themselves as surrogacy brokers.

For instance, in the case of the Kehoes, psychological screening was "recommended" but not required. Sound problematic? It is.

On Tuesday, July 28, the babies were born by Caesarean section. The following Monday, in court in Ann Arbor, Ms. Baker said she first learned of Ms. Kehoe's psychiatric history...During a hearing to transfer guardianship to the Kehoes, Scott Kehoe said his wife had paranoid schizophrenia. Ms. Kehoe's psychiatrist listed the diagnosis as a "psychotic disorder not otherwise specified." Ms. Kehoe takes an antipsychotic to control her symptoms. Before her diagnosis in 2001, Ms. Kehoe told the judge, she had self-medicated, and that was the reason for her arrest on charges of cocaine use and driving under the influence. Adoption experts said that mental illness was not a bar to adoption if the illness was under control and the patient went to doctor's appointments and took medications. And Ms. Kehoe's psychiatrist wrote a letter saying she would be a good mother because her disease had been fully controlled for eight years and she currently had no symptoms.

Laschell Baker, who carried the twins, has reclaimed them and, with her husband, is raising them as her own. After a prolonged legal struggle, the Kehoes have relinquished the fight. The Bakers, however, have faced tremendous fallout in the surrogate community, much of which condemns their actions. Fired back Baker on Surromomsonline.com,

My reasons for wanting to take them back were purely that I was not comfortable that she has a pscyological disorder, thats my reason. I never knew about the other issues either including the legal stuff, but that was not my reason at all. If i would have known up front about the medical disorder up front I never would have felt comforable working with them. Not making judgement I'm glad she is working on changing her life, however I did not want to release the babies in their forever care and never know if something ever went wrong. I was totally ready to go through with everything untill I found out this important issue. We did not use an agency. Funny that so many of the surrogates take sides so quickly when not everything is out about the story. I will not STOOP to their level and air ALL THE DIRT and things I and my family have delbt with during th

First off, only a small percentage of women qualify for the really big bucks of myth; to qualify at all a woman must be between 21 and 30, not have traveled (mad cow), and be healthy. Genetic disorders, depression, a family history of cancer or diabetes, and even piercings and tattoos can all be deal-breakers. And of that population (whose family members have, apparently, never visited a doctor), only those with excellent SATs are double-digit desirable.

Then, it's a time commitment: the competitive application process is involved and prolonged, and the actual donation requires a number of appointments over several months. And then there are the health risks. As Nerve describes it,

The most hazardous side effect, Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), is a complication occasionally seen in women who take certain fertility medicines that stimulate egg production. The symptoms of OHSS can include bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive weight gain, shortness of breath, and sometimes kidney or liver failure. In addition, during the procedure, the patient is in immediate danger, as a careless doctor can puncture the donor's bowel, bladder, or blood vessels. And while the long-term physical effects of egg donation have not been well studied (the practice has only existed for about twenty-five years), some evidence suggests an increased risk of ovarian cancer and early menopause. Women can only produce so many eggs in their lifetime.

Which is not to say that no one should do it - many women apparently talk about the altruism of the gesture and the satisfaction of helping increasing numbers of applicants have a family, to say nothing off paying off debts - simply that porn and a cup, this isn't. For a long time doctors have worried that the sky-high potential payments have made donors cavalier about the risks of the procedure. Indeed, this is the rationale behind Great Britain's policy of setting a £250 cap (incidental costs and earnings lost) on such payments. However, the increasing demand - and the open-secret practice of couples going abroad for eggs - is causing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, a watchdog, to review their policy. (None of it an issue for those of us with diabetes genes or bad math scores, of course - our eggs, like Veruca Salt, don't make the cut.)

Fall Harvest [Nerve]

Related: Women May Be Paid For Eggs: Fertility Watchdog [Telegraph]
Egg And Sperm Donation Rules To Be Reviewed [Independent]

• For the first time since the 1939 World's Fair, New Yorkers will be able to see Vermeer's famous painting "The Milkmaid". It will be on display at the Met, alongside all 36 known paintings by the Dutch master. • Over 15 years ago, a fertility clinic at the University of California, Irvine, made the news for giving away embryos without consent. Two dozen lawsuits resulting from the mixed up embryos have finally been settled, but Shirel and Steve Crawford are still searching for their biological children. "Our children are out there somewhere," Shirel said, "maybe someday they will find us." • We mentioned yesterday the disappearance of Yale University graduate student Annie Le, who has still not yet been found. The FBI has joined in the search for Le, and in a horrible/ironic twist, MSNBC reports that Le wrote an article earlier this year on how to stay safe on campus. • An Australian teenager could be sentenced to seven years in prison for taking RU-486 to induce an abortion at her home — the drug is illegal to take without medical supervision. • Caster Semenya has withdrawn from South Africa's national cross country championships this Saturday. Her coach says she's "not feeling well." • The first transsexual marriage in Iran is set to take place, but only after the transman is medically examined to "prove it would be a proper male-female relationship." Surprisingly, Iran carries out more sex change operations than any country aprart from Thailand, but this will be the first time a transsexual marriage is made legal. • 

MSNBC's "Body Odd" takes on the issue today, consulting a number of OBGYNs.

"The uterus is a remarkably flexible organ," says Dr. Florence P. Haseltine, ob/gyn and founder of the Society for Women's Health Research in Alexandria, Va. "It can grow rather rapidly and it can recede rather rapidly. It's able to reconstruct itself and reconfigure itself quickly...I don't believe a uterus gets tired. If it had damage as a result of a specific pregnancy, it might cause trouble. But it doesn't make any physiological sense why one should worry about the uterus."

And of course, health, fitness and the state of the uterus vary from one woman's genetics to another's. While it's physically possible, there are naturally risks. The piece states that post-partum depression is more likely "after delivering five or six children" - let alone 19. Says another doctor,

There's a continuous leeching of calcium and iron, the supplemental building blocks that babies need...After having many children, chronic anemia or osteopenia – weak bones – could be a chronic risk. Also carrying children does increase the risk of incontinence, but even women who haven't had children have incontinence.

Sexy! You can be incontinent either way - luck of the genetic draw - but multiple pregnancies may help! And anyone who's looked at a photo of a grim-faced great-great grandma surrounded by her brood knows that having dozens of kids wasn't exactly rejuvenating. Yes, there are health benefits to multiple pregnancies - research suggests that it prevents both ovarian and breast cancers. But, not to put too fine a point on it, in the old days would most of these mothers have survived to the age of cancer? Maybe a few generations ago, women did have kids in Quiverfull numbers. But they started young, and, frankly, the babies didn't all survive. What's more, without modern technology, just going by the odds almost no woman's body could survive that many pregnancies: after all, Michelle Duggar has delivered three of her babies via C-section.

And it's not just the physical delivery and pregnancy: caring for that many children would tax the emotions and energy of almost any woman. Are we made for that kind of anxiety - mentally? And attitudes towards child-rearing have changed a lot: modern parenting generally proscribes a lot more attention per child - and a lot less child labor. So, can we do it? Yup. But the body can do a lot of things - if it has to. Not everyone wants to test its limits.

Are Some Women Superbreeders? [MSNBC]

Belkin acknowledges that, while a mother can pass away at any time, women who give birth at older ages are "increasing the odds" that they won't see their kids grow up. She also says, however, that as technology makes it possible for women to give birth at older ages, "there's a feeling that [...] we need to control this." And that feeling, she believes, is misplaced. Karen Day, who gave birth via IVF at the age of 53, has a similar take. She asks why older moms are criticized so heavily, while "a 90-year-old man who just fathered his 21st child" gets less attention. Belkin points out that the 90-year-old man needs a younger woman to father his kid, and thus has a younger co-parent who will be around if he dies. But if the real issue is having someone to take care of the child, surely this could be resolved by encouraging older moms to involve younger people in their kids' lives — much as gay couples sometimes like to involve role models of the opposite gender.

Giving birth at 67, as the recently deceased Maria del Carmen Bousada did, has its problems, but the reason people are so up in arms may not have to do with an altruistic concern for the children. Belkin posted the NPR interview on her New York Times blog, and a commenter responded thus:

I think that if women gain the ability to bear children in their later years (thus truly retaining youth and vitality), society in general will find it much harder to brush older women off as irrelevant and unneeded. Older males will have fewer excuses for sniffing around skirts of women half their age, and will no longer be seen as logical opportunities, but rather selfish perverts. If women can still have babies in their 50s and 60s as men do, we'll have taken a giant step toward closing one of the most significant gender gaps that exists. True equality is the real fear.

In conversations about gender inequality, especially regarding relationships and age, people frequently throw up their hands and cite "biological realities." These realities are why women are supposed to consider their "market value" and settle down young, while men can do whatever they want. But if technology allows us to change biology, extending women's fertility, it will become less tenable to assert that a woman's "value" is tied up with her youth. The paradigm that women lose worth just as they become wiser, more experienced, and better able to speak up for themselves, may be subverted. And that, for many people, may be a scary thought.

When Is A Woman Too Old to Have Children? [The Takeaway]
Talking With A Mom Who Is "Too Old" [NYT]

• Iran has consented to review the 8 year prison sentence, but judiciary officials deny that Saberi is on hunger strike. • Yesterday hundreds gathered in Philadelphia to march for gay rights. It is reportedly the first national rally for equality held outside Washington, DC. •  Ugh: Swiss authorities are investigating the appearance of a condom in a 7-year-old's Happy Meal. • New research has found that men with mental health problems are at an increased risk of passing their issues on to their sons. • A British mother was nearly killed while birthing her abnormally large son. Her child weighed 13 pounds, 10 ounces, which is almost double the average birth weight. • A recent study has found that the brothers of women who are fertile late in life tend to live longer, but their wives (sisters-in-law to the older mothers) do not. • Researchers have found that African-American women face a much greater risk of dying from breast cancer than white women, regardless of socio-economic status, the age at which they are diagnosed, the type of cancer, or type of treatment. • This fascinating report compares the leisure habits of different countries. Findings include: men in Italy have 80 minutes more of down time per day than women, and the French spend more time sleeping and eating than any other country included in the study. Fuckers. • Doctors have found new ways to identify autism in infants, which they hope will lead to better treatment of the disorder. • A new study from the Children's Hospital in Boston indicates that kids who watch adult-targeted TV are more likely to be sexually active at a younger age than those who stick to Saturday morning cartoons. • A woman in Dubai has been convicted of accidentally killing her fetus in a traffic accident and has been ordered to pay blood money to compensate for the (possibly) resulting stillbirth. • The Sleepy Eye Police Department is investigating the theft of Snoopy's nose. • Bear trapping is big business in China, where bears are held captive in order to collect their valuable bile. The bears are often held in cages no bigger than their own bodies. •  Following the case of the 8-year-old girl who was married to a man 40 years her senior, Saudi Arabia has begun to consider banning marriage for girls under the age of 18. • A 17-year-old girl who dialed 911 when her father had a seizure was berated by the cop who answered the call because she began swearing. Click here to hear the full tape. • Silvio Berlusconi has demanded an apology from his wife, Veronica Lario, for her recent comments about their possible divorce. •

Lehmann-Haupt decided to undergo the procedure because at 37, she was "single and worried about losing my chance to have a child." In her research into the procedure, she talked to its inventors, Italian Drs. Raffaella Fabbri and Eleanora Porcu, who first envisioned egg freezing as a way around the Catholic Church's ban on freezing embryos. While Fabbri supports the use of egg freezing to extend fertility, Porcu thinks the process is "harmful to feminism." She told Lehmann-Haupt:

It means that we're accepting a mentality of efficiency in which pregnancy and motherhood are marginalized. We've demonstrated that we are able to do everything like men. Now we have to do the second revolution, which is not to become dependent on a technology that involves surgical intervention. We have to be free to be pregnant when we are fertile and young.

If Porcu would in fact like workplaces to make it easier for women to have children while still building their careers, this is a good thing. But being "free to be pregnant" and finding the right situation in which to have a child are two different things, and, regardless of job status, some women don't find themselves in that situation until later in life. The ability not to put a time limit on your desire for a family is a freedom too. Porcu acknowledged this, calling egg-freezing for Lehmann-Haupt, "an additional tool to fight against unfair nature. You want to survive as a fertile woman." But she then cautioned Lehmann-Haupt that she might be too old for the procedure.

She wasn't — she was eventually able to freeze eight mature eggs, the number considered necessary for one pregnancy. Her doctor recommended another cycle in case she wanted to have another child, but at $15,000 a pop, Lehmann-Haupt couldn't afford it. This issue — the cost — may be the real downside to egg-freezing technology. There's no guarantee that a woman can conceive from frozen eggs, but the process is marketed aggressively. The first comment on the Newsweek article reads:

I think it's great that you are being proactive about your fertility. You know you want to be a mother some day - and you're making that a priority. Too many people are unrealistic about their fertility as they see celebrities magically getting pregnant in their forties. You will never regret taking this step - only not taking it. I am part of a team that has developed a new web portal www.fertilityauthority.com and we are trying to encourage women to be proactive about their fertility.
We welcome you to visit our site and share your story with many women out there like you who are thinking about freezing their eggs. -Kerry Walker FertilityAuthority

Egg-freezing technology at this point seems like a mixed blessing — a way for some women to extend their fertility, but also yet another way for companies to capitalize on women's anxiety. In an ideal world, the price would come down, and women could exercise this option without forking over thousands.

Why I Froze My Eggs [Newsweek]

Women who fail to marry at "20 or 21," Regnerus implies, don't hesitate because they're not sure they've found the right guy or because they genuinely want to date a bit before settling down — instead, they're pressured by peers and parents who want them to focus on career first. This pressure is very very bad for their poor ladysouls, however, because early marriage is actually great for girls — it's boys who can't handle it. Regnerus writes,

According to data from the government's National Survey of Family Growth, women who marry at 18 have a better shot at making a marriage work than men who marry at 21. There is wisdom in having an age gap between spouses. For women, age is (unfortunately) a debit, decreasing fertility. For men, age can be a credit, increasing their access to resources and improving their maturity, thus making them more attractive to women. We may all dislike this scenario, but we can't will it away.

So girls should marry older men — and do it fast, otherwise nobody will want them. Like Lori Gottleib in last year's Atlantic, Regnerus thinks ladies should settle down before their "value" declines too far:

This is not just an economic problem. It's also a biological and emotional one. I realize that it's not cool to say that, but my job is to map trends, not to affirm them. Marriage will be there for men when they're ready. And most do get there. Eventually. But according to social psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs, women's "market value" declines steadily as they age, while men's tends to rise in step with their growing resources (that is, money and maturation). Countless studies — and endless anecdotes — reinforce their conclusion.

See, women are commodities — rapidly rotting ones at that — and there's absolutely nothing they can do about this, other than rush to the altar. Girls are so lucky they have Regnerus to tell them what's what, without worrying about being "cool" — because nobody is talking about these issues. Before he stepped in, nobody had thought to make a woman feel bad about her declining fertility or her wrinkly, 26-year-old hag-face. He's so brave.

Seriously, for any pressure that tells women to wait and date around, there's a greater pressure to get hitched before they're all old and dried-up and nobody wants them (obviously older women are hideous, and the goal is to trick a man into marrying you before you get that way). A marriage that is based on either of these pressures is not going to be a happy one. Peter Suderman at The American Scene has it right: "decisions about marriage should be made on the basis of whether or not you think you and your potential spouse will be happy and successful." These decisions should probably include both love and mundane realities like whether a partner helps with chores — but they shouldn't be based on what Regnerus, or some notional crowd of evil, marriage-delaying harpies, thinks is best.

Say Yes. What Are You Waiting For? [Washington Post]
When To Get Married? [The American Scene]
Re: When To Get Married? [The American Scene]
Why Dating Doesn't Predict Marital Success [Scientific American]

The stats on the 2007 birth rate tell of both good and bad news. Somewhat good: the U.S. population is more than replacing itself. Bad: teen pregnancies are also on the rise, for the second year in a row.

Fertility researcher S. Philip Morgan claims that cultural acceptance of unwed mothers is partially to blame, as is the high profile case of Bristol Palin. "She's the poster child for what you do when you get pregnant now," Morgan said. He believes that Bristol (and the media acceptance of girls like her) may be to blame for both the rise in teen pregnancies and the fall in abortion rates.

Optimists believe that abortions are down because of better contraception, while pessimists believe that more teens are having babies because they don't know how to use birth control. This viewpoint is backed up by studies that show an overall decrease in availability of abortions - it is becoming increasingly true that if a young girl gets pregnant, she stays pregnant ("Just like Bristol," as Morgan might say).

Dr. Carol Hogue has a somewhat similar take on the phenomenon. She suggests that the abnormally high birth rate in 2007 was spurred a relatively good economy coupled with "cultural trends that promoted childbirth." So you mean our cultural obsession with celebrity babies (and all those infuriating baby watch articles and "baby bump" features) are finally taking their toll? Who'da thunk it!

However, they would like to remind us that this is only "the tiniest of baby booms":

CDC officials noted that despite the record number of births, this is nothing like what occurred in the 1950s, when a much smaller population of women were having nearly four children each, on average. That baby boom quickly transformed society, affecting everything from school construction to consumer culture.

Today, U.S. women are averaging 2.1 children each. That's the highest level it's been since the early 1970s, but is a relatively small increase from the rate it had hovered at for more than 10 years and is hardly transforming.

This is why experts are calling the 2007 surge of newborns a "baby boomlet," rather than a full-on boom. Whatever sickeningly cutesy name we call it, the fact remains that more babies are having babies, less women are able to choose abortion as an option, and doctors are blaming a single famous teen mom for a rash of young births that happened two years ago. And that's bad news all around.

Number Of U.S. Births Breaks Record [CBS News]

There have been four malpractice suits filed against Kamrava since 1991, reports Time. Michael Verdi and his wife Eva Menen filed one of those lawsuits after receiving treatment from Kamrava in 1994. Verdi says Kamrava was rude and didn't answer questions appropriately. "We did research and figured out he was doing a lot of stuff wrong. He overmedicated her and he was doing insemination when she wasn't ovulating," said Verdi. They stopped seeing the doctor after Menen did not get pregnant after three months. Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, a fertility doctor who has known Kamrava for 20 years, speculates that the doctor began increasing the number of embryos he transferred because he was under pressure to up his success rate. Among patients younger than 35, Kamrava transferred an average of 3.5 embryos versus the nationwide average of 2.3. But, he had a 10% success rate versus a nationwide average of 39% of procedures resulting in live births.

In other news, Victor Munoz, Suleman's second publicist has quit. "It just got to be too much," says Munoz. "It's pretty much a free for all over there right now. They are freaking out right now." He added, "Nadya got real greedy. This woman is nuts."

[
The Fertility Doctor Behind the "Octomom" [Time]
Exclusive: Octo Mom's New Publicist Quits: "This Woman Is Nuts" [Us]

The bill, titled the "Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act," is the most sweeping state legislation on fertility procedures introduced since Suleman gave birth to her octuplets in January, according to the Wall Street Journal. Republican state Senator Ralph T. Hudgens, one of the sponsors of the bill, said in an interview:

Nadya Suleman is going to cost the state of California millions of dollars over the years; the taxpayers are going to have to fund the 14 children she has ... I don't want that to happen in Georgia.

The proposed bill would limit the number of embryos implanted in a woman at one time to two, or three for women over 40. It also goes a step further, with limitations on the number of embryos created in the lab to the number being implanted. This would essentially eliminate a woman's ability to freeze her eggs, which is unsurprising, considering the bill was drafted in part by the Georgia Right to Life organization. The group's president, Daniel Becker, tells the Journal, "To us it's a human-rights issue," adding that embryos deserve legal protection "as living human beings and not as property."

Several scientific organizations are opposed to the bill because it would end embryo freezing, and because they say in some cases it's necessary to implant more than two or three embryos. Sean Tipton of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine says the lawmakers "don't understand the complicated medicine behind it." Currently, the organization urges doctors to transfer only two embryos at a time into patients under 35, and no more than five in a woman over 40, but the guidelines aren't mandatory.

Resolve, a national fertility association, also opposes the bill. Executive Director Barbara Collura says: "It's the right of the person who has gone through this procedure to decide what they can do with those embryos, not their doctor, and certainly not the government."

While up to this point, we've watched the Nadya Suleman story turn into a tabloid media circus, this legislation marks the beginning of the octuplets' birth spurring actual legal changes. Georgia lawmakers point out that other countries, such as Britain, already limit the number of embryos transferred per cycle. Other countries have found ways to reducing risky multiple births, but they've also adopted policies that don't severely limit women's rights. Hopefully in the U.S., as more states introduce limits on embryo transfers inspired by Nadya Suleman, lawmakers will consult with doctors and create legislation backed by fertility specialists that doesn't also seek to limit reproductive rights.

In-Vitro Fertilization Limit Is Sought [The Wall Street Journal]
Ethical Treatment Of Human Embryos Act [Georgia General Assembly]

A source tells the New York Post, "Everything was filmed. The birth, everything. Then [Suleman's people] said negotiations would start at $1.2 million for the video and pictures, which is when producers from Oprah Winfrey, ABC and CBS left the room. NBC stayed." The source believes that NBC made a "donation" to Suleman through an intermediary, though NBC vehemently denies the claim. "NBC News does not pay for interviews," said a network representative. "We did not pay Nadya Suleman, or anyone who represents her, for our interview ... Not a dime."

But of course, the network did profit from Suleman's interview with Ann Curry. The Washington Post reports that the Dateline interview attracted 11.3 million viewers Tuesday, delivering the news magazine's highest ratings since Matt Lauer interviewed Princess Diana's children in 2007. For comparison, NBC's broadcast of the Golden Globes drew 15 million viewers last month, and the network's election-night coverage had 12.3 million viewers.

Whether NBC made a "donation" to Suleman for the interview or not, she is now collecting money through her website. As CNN explains, the site features pictures of the octuplets and says the "proud mother of octuplets" is accepting donations using Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and PayPal. There is also the option to leave a comment, though none of the wishes people have left for the family are displayed.

California taxpayers would probably have some choice comments for Suleman, as news that she will be receiving even more assistance from the state has provoked an angry response from residents. CBS News reports that Suleman has already been using public assistance to help raise her six previous children, receiving $490 per month in food stamps and Social Security disability payments for three of her children. One of Suleman's previous six children is autistic, and two have undisclosed disabilities. In California, a low-income family can collect Social Security payments of up to $793 a month for each disabled child, with three children adding up to $2,379. Suleman said in her interview with Ann Curry that she does not consider the aid a form of welfare and doesn't intend to be on it for long.

But, the hospital where the octuplets will spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from the state Medicaid program to care for the premature babies. The figure has not been disclosed, but in 2006, the average cost of a premature baby's hospital stay was $164,273 in California and the average cost for just one cesarean birth was $22,762. Using these figures, the cost of caring the premature octuplets would total nearly $1.5 million dollars before they even left the hospital.

This news, in addition to the fact that Suleman paid for her fertility treatments using $165,000 in disability payments, supported her children with student loans, and plans to enroll in California State University and rely on the school's day care to care for her children, has not gone over well with California taxpayers. Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten says that the Suleman story is "grotesque," and said, "it appears that, in the case of the Suleman family, raising 14 children takes not simply a village but the combined resources of the county, state and federal governments."

NBC And The Octomom [The New York Post]
Mother of Octuplets Delivers Ratings, Too [The Washington Post]
Octuplets' Mom Seeks Online Donations [CNN]
Octuplets Mom Enrages Calif. Taxpayers [CBS News]

In a new videotaped interview with RadarOnline.com, Angela Suleman, Nadya's mother, says she feels her daughter having so many children is "unconscionable." "She really has no idea what she's doing to her children, and to me," she says. According to Angela, a retired teacher, Nadya does not contribute money toward supporting her children. "Nadya promised to help me with the bills, but she never has," she says. "I lost a house because of it and now I'm struggling to look after her six. We had to put in bunk beds, feed them in shifts and there's children's clothing piled all over the house."

New photos of the interior of their three-bedroom house are posted along with the article. The house looks disheveled, and a RadarOnline.com reporter said the interior was "filthy," and there was food on the walls. Nadya's publicist Mike Furtney said that she shouldn't be held responsible for the condition of the house since she hasn't been home for weeks, according to the Associated Press. He added that Nadya planned to move into a larger house once the octuplets were healthy enough to be released from the hospital, though whose house that is, or how she is planning to pay for it was not explained.

Angela told RadarOnline.com that the sperm donor for all 14 kids was Nadya's boyfriend. Angela said he wanted to marry Nadya, but she refused because she wanted to have children on her own. She said her daughter was so set on having children that she got pregnant at 16, but miscarried and discovered that she had fertility problems. Though Nadya says she was treated by the same fertility doctor for all 14 children, Angela says she had to find a different doctor for the octuplets after Nadya's father begged one doctor not to implant anymore embryos because she already had six children. The Medical Board of California announced that the unidentified doctor who performed the procedure is under investigation for a "violation of the standard of care." Dr. Jaime Grifo, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, wrote an article for the New York Post on the standard procedures of doctors in his field, and says "it wouldn't shock me if there was a doctor who would do this, but it would greatly disappoint me."

These new details will probably only increase public scorn for Ms. Suleman. New footage (video below) aired this morning on Today from her interview with Ann Curry. In the first, Nadya admits that she may have projected her own desire for a large family on her children, imagining that her children wanted more siblings. In the second, Curry asks how Nadya plans to provide for the children, and she does not seem to have a concrete plan, saying "God will provide in his own way." She says she is not receiving help from the government, and will only accept products from people or companies that are "just for the children."

But, advertisers may be reluctant to shower Suleman's children with gifts, as they have with other multiples in the past. An article in Advertising Age suggests that any company should be hesitant to seek brand placement given the circumstances of the octuplets birth. It also suggests that like the "Son of Sam" laws that prevent criminals from profiting for their crimes by selling their stories, there should be a "Mother of Octuplets" law "to prevent baby-obsessed crazy ladies from not only profiting fromt heir obsession but making their children wards of the Media State."

In a new essay in Time, writer Nancy Gibb questions why Suleman has so angered the public, while the McCaughey septuplets, born in 1997, received a congratulatory phone call from President Clinton, and millions of people tune in every week to watch Jon and Kate Plus 8 and the Duggars with their 18 children. Gibb suggests that Suleman has "violated some unspoken rule we have about fertility treatment." Almost everyone accepts the uncomfortable ethics of fertility treatments, because we understand people's desire to become a parent. Suleman however, makes us question those ethics because she already had so many children. Even as she is criticized for seeking media attention, new outlets continue to cover her and the public continues to watch. But, has Suleman crossed so many ethical lines that she deserves all the public scrutiny, or as Gibb says, is it time to stop criticizing someone else's personal parenting choices and "let this woman work out her very challenging circumstances without our vitriol making it any harder."

In the clip below from The Today Show Nadya says she projected her own wants onto her children, convincing herself that her six kids wanted a bigger family.



Below, Nadya denies that she had the children to make money. She says she wanted to do it on her own, but says she couldn't take care of the kids without her mother's support.

Grandma Blasts Octuplet Mom: "Nadya's Not Capable" [RadarOnline.com]
These Docs Are Bad Eggs [NY Post]
Let's Stop The Octuplet Mom And Her Ilk From Media Profit [Advertising Age]
Calling A Truce On The Octuplet Mom [Time]

In an article published in the latest issue of The FASEB Journal, Sinkkonen proposes that the "symmetry, shape, and position of umbilicus can be used to estimate the reproductive potential of fertile females, including risks of certain genetically and maternally inherited fetal anomalies." He found that people have very clear preferences for their belly buttons, preferring those that are only slightly indented (so never outies!), t-shaped or oval, and a little hooded. Sinkkonen suggests that abnormal bellybuttons may indicate a risk of several fetal abnormalities. However, in case you are feeling bad about your outie, or heavily-hooded navel, Sinkkonen says: "Don't worry. Nobody's perfect except Angelina Jolie." [LiveScience]

• Celebrity hairdresser Andrew Barton says he has experienced a 67% surge in requests for blonde hair products compared to this time last year. Barton believes that women are dying their hair to counteract the gloom of the credit crunch. Which makes absolutely no sense, considering all the expensive touch ups necessary to maintain a blonde hue. • A new study has found that certain chemicals, commonly found in food packaging, upholstery and carpets may reduce women's fertility. • Scientists have begun to investigate a recent drop in the average age of puberty among girls. They believe that the increase in childhood obesity may be a factor, since fat can be a source of estrogen. • New research indicates that losing weight can significantly reduce urinary incontinence among women. • Further evidence that premature birth may be tied to autism: a U.S. study has found that children born more tan three months early are two to three times as likely to show signs of autism. • Front runner for the "most evil man alive" competition, Josef Fritzl, has invited the world's leading psychiatrists to examine him. He says they "should look into the deepest depths of my soul and learn from it for future cases." We find this deeply disturbing. • The so-called breast cancer gene may also indicate a man's likelihood for developing a particularly aggressive form of prostate cancer. • A new poll shows that more than half the respondents, while happy with their homes, would like to live elsewhere. • Here's the latest results from the seemingly endless pile of no-shit studies: circumcisions are twice as likely to be performed in states where Medicaid pays for them as in states where they are not covered. • Encouraged by security improvements throughout he country, thousands of Iraq women are running for local government. • According to the Ministry of Justice, the number of crimes committed in Britain by girls has soared 22% in the past few years. • At South Devon College, students as young as 14 watched a pole dancing demonstration as part of the school's Be Healthy Week. The video of the performance actually does not appear at all sexual, and looks incredibly challenging. • It turns out that UV light-enhanced tooth bleaching is not only ineffective, but is also terrible for your skin. A study also found that the procedure can damage teeth permanently. • Serena Williams has been named the all-time career prize money leader in women's sport, besting golfing legeand Annika Sorenstam. • 

Newsweek reports that this week, the American Fertility Association (AFA) will hold the first in a series of one-hour conversations about reproductive health with a "Manicures & Martinis" event at a Manhattan nail salon. The event is targeted at women in their 20s and 30s who aren't ready to have children yet. A group of 25 women will be served martinis and alcohol-free "fertilitinis" at the salon as a fertility expert leads a discussion about the reality of the biological clock and risk factors for fertility. "I wanted to create a program that was soft, that was light and that was non-threatening," says the AFA's director of development, Corey Whelan, who adds that the message of the program is "one of hope, not one of doom and gloom." The event is being promoted through social networking sites like Facebook so women can invite their friends in a "girlfriend-to-girlfriend experience."

The first salon event will be run by Dr. Jaime Grifo, program director at the New York University Fertility Center, who says the goal of the program is "not to be paternalistic or dictatorial, it's to be educational so people make decisions consciously rather than unconsciously." Though some say that harping on the threat of infertility is sexist and unfair to single women, others argue that having information on the topic is empowering. Though fertility varies greatly in women, studies show that generally fertility starts to decline in the late 20s and drops of dramatically in the late 30s. Grifo says that while many young women assume they'll have children one day, they don't think about how to get there. "It's so easy to deny and not think about these things and then show up in my office at 44 and say, 'I've tried for two months, what's wrong?'" she says.

While the AFA says the goal of the "Manicures & Martinis" event is not to induce a panic among younger women, in the UK, one Christian group attempted to instill the fear of infertility in even younger women to get them to refuse the HPV vaccine. The Daily Mail reports that the group Christian Voice ran an ad in the magazine New Statesmen that claimed: "Every Government initiative, including the HPV vaccine, will increase [teenage infertility], but as all the targets revolve around pregnancy, no-one in power knows how many young people they are making sterile and nobody cares." Following complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, the agency investigated and ruled that the group has to pull the ad, since there is no significant scientific evidence that the HPV vaccine causes infertility in teenagers. Christian Voice now claims that their freedom of speech is being limited, since they argue that the HPV vaccine will increase teen sex and cause a surge in STD infections that cause infertility.

The AFA program in New York will discuss the negative effects of STDs, smoking, and substance abuse on fertility, in addition to age. It will also address fertility treatment options such as egg freezing, a procedure that can cost up to $10,000 and is still considered experimental. Though the AFA claims the only goal of the campaign is to educate women, it is funded by the drug company that makes the fertility drug Follistim, a pharmacy that provides fertility prescriptions, and several fertility clinics. But Whelan insists that though the AFA needs funding from these groups, they have not influenced what will be taught in the infertility prevention program. "We're trying to decrease the patient population, not increase it," she says.

Have Another ‘Fertilitini’ [Newsweek]
Watchdog Bans Christian Advert That Claims Cervical Cancer Vaccine Causes Infertility [The Daily Mail]

Us
"Candace Cameron: How I Lost 22 Lbs. On My Own!"
Here is a direct quote from the six-page story: "She started eating less and working out more." Moving on: There's a "Do You Know Who I Am" spread, which reveals Jennifer Love Hewitt's old nose was bigger, Renee Zellweger's old body was bigger, and Amy Poehler's old hair was bigger. Shania Twain broke up with her husband, Mutt Lange, in May, because he was cheating on her with her best friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud. Now Shania is hanging out with Marie-Anne's husband, Frédéric Thiébaud. Shania was seen being fed an olive by Frédéric at lunch recently. And they went skydiving together! Next: What has Madonna done to her face? Plastic surgeons who don't treat her say she's using Botox, got a brow lift, has filler under her eyes, cheek implants and may have gotten a subtle mini face lift. Her chin is natural, though. Lastly — and this is exciting — there are four pages of sketches from designers (Carolina Herrera, Badgley Mischka, Zac Posen, Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta) of Inauguration evening and day looks for Michelle Obama and the kids!
Grade: D (evisceration)

Life & Style
"Yes, I'm Pregnant!"
Janet Jackson, 42, allegedly sat down the band traveling with her on tour and said, "Guys, we're canceling the rest of the tour. I'm pregnant!" The magazine speaks to Jermaine Dupri's Aunt, who says, "I texted Jermaine a few days ago to ask if Janet's pregnant." His answer? A coy, "not yet." Basically, they won't announce anything until after the first trimester. Moving on: Angelina Jolie has a "new face." A doctor who doesn't treat her thinks it's all Botox, Juvederm, and fillers. Injectables, not surgery (Fig. 1). So in T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Katie Holmes went on and on about how she's not a wallflower; a source says she's doing it now because she wants a Tony. And "She knows she's been portrayed as this kind of Stepford wife, and it was important for her to set the record straight." Also! Tom Cruise has been wearing white Nike Air Force 1s, which add 2 inches to his height! He is a baller. A story called "The Obama Diet" (Fig. 2) has a picture of the President-Elect "running" in a suit, eating a soft shell taco and holding a small bottle of hot sauce. 2009 is gonna be just fine. Gerard Butler wasn't always so hot (Fig. 3)! Gossip Girl's Ed "Chuck Bass" Westwick and Jessica "Vanessa" Szohr were seen Christmas shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond in NYC. "They sure looked like they were a couple," says an eyewitness. Tobey Maguire is, at his wife's request, taking parenting classes: Apparently he spoiled the first kid, and there's a second one on the way. Lastly, in a spread called "Star's Figure Flaws — Fixed!" we find out how to "solve" the problem of having a "lean frame" or a "petite frame," like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Oh, and guess what? Ugly Betty's Amanda, Becki Newton, is "pear-shaped."
Grade: D+ (flaying)

In Touch
"It's A Girl."
It will be an "unusual" and "memorable" Christmas: Angelina and Brad are taking the kids to Ethiopia to get their fourth adoption underway. A source says, "They've already picked out a little girl… They don't want Zahara to be the only African in the family." And! Even though Angie hasn't said anything, many, as in the editors of the mag, believe she is carrying baby number 8. Crazytown. Moving on: "Friends" worry Madonna is suffering from a mid-life crisis. "She's obsessed with her appearance, adopted younger friends on tour, and has replaced Guy Ritchie, 40, with 33-year-old Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez." Uh-oh, reporter Ian Halperin says Michael Jackson has "a very severe lung condition called Alpha-1 antitrypson deficiency. He needs a lung transplant. He also has emphysema and chronic gastro-intestinal bleeding. He can barely speak and the vision in his left eye is 95% gone." Oh, Marilyn Manson's new dame is model Isani Griffith, 24. Dude has a type. Is Winona Ryder okay? A source says she seems to be on a "downward spiral" since Rilo Kiley guitarist Blake Sennett ended their relationship in August. In a spread called "Who's Really Cheating," there are tons of blind items (Fig. 4). Joel and Benji Madden spent a week in the Central African Republic as UN Goodwill Ambassadors; Joel plans on raising money for UNICEF's Tap Of Project, which provides safe drinking water. Lastly, Lynda Carter, TV's Wonder Woman says: "Beyoncé's phenomenal. I think the whole idea of her playing Wonder Woman would be great."
Grade: C- (ravaged)

Star
"Angie & Brad: Twins Again!"
Alas, this story does not claim that Angelina is actually pregnant with twins. Instead, it says that Angie is getting "secret" fertility treatments and "trying really hard in the bedroom." So the couple is "gearing up" for twins. A "friend" says "She's 33, she doesn't feel like she has time to sit around and wait." Angelina is also eating yams, which are supposed to increase her chances of having twins. Orange juice, too. Oh, and fertility drugs. But Angelina and Brad are fighting, because Brad wants the babies to be born in New Orleans, and Angie wants them to be born somewhere "exotic," like India. Meanwhile, Maddox wants Brad and Angie to get married, so there's a wedding scheduled for June. All the kids will be in the wedding party. (There are elaborate descriptions of the proposed wedding venue, at a lodge in the Ozark mountains — with entire paragraphs dedicated to the fireplace and where to put the carved meat.) But Angie and Brad don't want it to be splashy like Brad's wedding to Jen because, "They don't want to be showy during these hard financial times." Moving on: Ginnifer Goodwin and Chris Klein: Dunzo! Lo Bosworth is avoiding Lauren Conrad — she's sick and tired of the inflated ego and sense of entitlement. Blind item! "Which actress is so messed up, she's seeing shrinks on both costs? Only, they've been giving her conflicting advice, and the back-and-forth has made her more wacky than ever." By the by, Jennifer Aniston is a fan of "Pokies," the plastic nipples that slide in under a bra. Suri Cruise loves Dora The Explorer's cousin Diego, and has asked her mom to get her one. The mag actually prints these words: "Katie's not about to pop one out just to so Suri can have a playmate. Even if she were to get pregnant again, there's no guarantee she'd have a boy — or that she'd name him Diego." Did Oprah have a non-surgical procedure called Thermage to take care of the bags under her eyes? A doctor who does not treat her says she got blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery). Rachel Zoe weighs 89 lbs. (Fig 5). "I've never seen her eat, only smoke," says an insider. Clay Aiken has a new boyfriend. The lucky guy is a Broadway dancer named Reed Kelly, from the ensemble cast of Wicked. Even though People magazine painted him as a great dad last week, Star says "Booze, weed and hookers are a big part of Kevin Federline's lifestyle." Next, there's an article about Britney's manhunt, and the mag creates a quasi-funny internet dating profile for the pop star. Lastly, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt may have a baby on the way: Spencer sees all these celebrities making cash on baby pictures, and he wants in! Heidi was dragging her feet, but he's convinced her, so look for a little money-grubber in the over early next year. Oh, and they think having a Newlyweds-type show featuring them as parents would be a huge hit. Plus, they only go to the apartment they "live" in on the show to film scenes. "That place is practically a set," says a source.
Grade: C (ruined)

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