Octuplet
mom Nadya Suleman already had six children after five successful in
vitro fertilization treatments, but one big dilemma kept gnawing at
her: What was she supposed to do with her six frozen embryos?
"Those were my children," Suleman told NBC. "I couldn't live with the
fact that if I had never used them . . . that I didn't allow these
little embryos to live or give them an opportunity to grow."
Now, anti-abortion groups in Georgia are using
Suleman's story as a rallying call to enact stricter rules to govern
the $3-billion fertility industry, which has some doctors worrying that
the octuplets may be used as a pretense to pass laws restricting
abortion rights.
Two other states, California and Missouri, are offering laws that critics say might create a confusing patchwork of regulations.
The
Missouri bill seeks to adopt industry standards as law. The California
law gives the state Medical Board oversight of fertility clinics.
But the Georgia bill, called the Ethical
Treatment of Human Embryos Act, defines an embryo as a "biological
human being" and prohibits the...