Before I begin this post, I’d like to note that this blog hasn’t seen much traffic in the past, oh, nine months or so. I’ve recently finished this semester of school, so I have found myself with a lot of time on my hands. I’m going to *try* to start posting regularly, mostly my musings on current events, pop culture, and whatever I feel like.

Onto the topic of Mrs. (I desperately want to use “Ms.,” but I’m afraid her demon eyes will laser me if I do) Duggar and her Quiverfull of crazy. (BTW-I’ve added the link to a blog post by my new favorite blog author so you can see her take on this.)

Now, far be it from me to judge someone on her religious beliefs. I do not appreciate it when people do it to me, so I’ll try not to do it to her. I’ll admit, I find what she believes at the very least strange, if not completely outdated. But, again, it is certainly within her rights to have was one might refer to as a fuck-ton of babies, so, Michelle honey, more power to you.

Religious beliefs aside, let’s talk about the implications of having so many children. Michelle has stated on more than one occasion that her older children help take care of the younger ones. Is this really fair? Shouldn’t one’s teenage years be about studying hard in school, playing harder, getting kisses from boys (or girls, as the case may be,) going to school dances, and such? Should one really have to tack on the responsibility of taking care of a small child when one is in high school, particularly if said child is not one’s own?

Furthermore, I have at least wonder if Michelle is getting some sort of cut for each new child. She (or maybe I should say her family,) of course, has her own television show on TLC. Does TLC pay her more for each child she has? Is she really doing this because she wants more children? Her religious convictions, of course, would have us think that yes, she’s having a lot of children because she wants to, which, like I’ve already said, is perfectly fine and peace be with her and First Amendment and blah, but I really do have to wonder; she obviously isn’t doing the television show for free.

Let’s go to the latest child in question. I will not link to the pictures of her holding the fetus because honestly, that’s unnecessary, and if you want, you can go search it yourself. It’s already been established that her latest live birth, Josie, was born three months prematurely. She has had a number of medical complications and several hospitalizations. Now, through simple medical statistics, it’s certainly likely that should Michelle decide to have more children (and of course, why wouldn’t she?) it would stand to reason that her potential future children would have an increased risk of preterm birth, medical complications, etc. (Of course, this is not necessarily the case; my cousin was born at twenty-six gestational weeks, [and just celebrated her eighteenth birthday!,] and her younger sister was born several years later without complications.) Why would Michelle subject her future potential children to that risk? God may want her to have as many children as possible, but God certainly doesn’t want more children to suffer.

Which brings me to my point. Ultimately, it is my opinion that what Michelle and Jim Bob are doing is not only foolish, it’s selfish. Obviously, there’s risk in any birth, but once you’ve already had a child with serious medical complications (not to mention the fact that she’s had eighteen perfectly healthy children before said child, and also the fact that her advancing age also puts her at greater risk for further producing children with medical complications,) why would you subject yourself to this again?

Now, I consider myself a reasonable person, and don’t think that I’m not advocating having more children after having one with medical complications. Again, my cousin born at twenty-six gestational weeks and her sister born at term certainly prove that it’s not unreasonable. But the thing that distinguishes my cousins from the Duggars is that my cousins are in a two-child family. Josie Duggar is the latest in a nineteen-child family. Especially after this latest miscarriage, I would say it stands to reason that it’s time to think about being content with nineteen children.

(Source: peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.blogspot.com)

I get too emotional.