About the octuplets' Mom

When the sexual revolution began, we were all excited about having sex without babies. Now, we have come full circle: we are having babies without having sex. (That's a little bit like skipping dessert and going straight for the brussels sprouts, but, never mind.)
Anyhow, more is emerging about Nadya Suleman, who has had 14 children, without having sex.

It still isn't clear who their father is, or who fathered Suleman's other six children, who range in age from 2 to 7.

Suleman listed a David Solomon as the father on the birth certificates for her first four children but gave a different birthday for him on each certificate and listed both Israel and California as his place of birth. He could not be located for comment.

She listed no father on the birth certificates for her fifth and sixth children, twins born in 2006.

Suleman herself has been known by different names over the years, including Natalie Suleman, Natalie Gutierrez, Nadya Gutierrez and Nadya Doud.

Suleman was married to Marcos Gutierrez in 1996 and was divorced last year, according to public records. Gutierrez did not return calls to numbers listed for him, and his divorce lawyer, Roberto Gil, declined to comment.

Divorce papers state the couple split up in 2000 and had no children, although Suleman had given birth to her first six children by the time the divorce was finalized.

This is the stuff of which the bloggers howl: irresponsible, counting on others to help her, etc.
But some touching details have emerged that shed some light on her motives.

Public records show Suleman's father has used the last names Doud and Suleman. Her parents married in Las Vegas in 1974 and divorced in 1999. Suleman was their only child.

And in another interview, the most touching detail:

In her first interview since giving birth to octuplets, Nadya Suleman tells NBC she wanted a huge family to make up for the isolation she says she always felt as an only child.

In a brief excerpt of the interview released Thursday, the 33-year-old single mother tells "Today" show anchor Ann Curry she had a dysfunctional childhood and sought to erase that with the closeness children could bring. NBC says the full interview will air Monday.

This is reminiscent of the motives I saw among the teen mothers I met in Reno last month. This is what I surmised from the girls themselves and from their social worker. "These girls get pregnant because they want to: they want to be loved by their boyfriends, and by their babies."
I wrote about them here:
My cyberspace friend, Dutch Martin, wrote to agree with me, though I don't see that he posted about it.