Stanford professor William Hurlbut, who sits on the President's Council on Bioethics, has seen IVF bring joy to infertile families. But he also noted that, "Multiple births are the bad thing about IVF." The more children per birth, the worse the medical problems are for the mother and the babies -- who are more likely to die, and are often born prematurely, underweight and more likely to suffer from cerebral palsy or respiratory problems.

American Society for Reproductive Medicine spokesman Sean Tipton noted that his group sees this story as "a failure" of reproductive medicine because, "Multiple births can and should be avoided." His group has worked to reduce multiple births from IVF.

Doctors can abort some of the babies -- they call it "selective reduction" -- to reduce the health risks to mother and children. I'll overlook the considerable ethical issues in the interests of limited space. Be it noted that doctors cannot make a mother agree to the procedure. According to reports, Suleman refused "selective reduction" -- and thankfully, Kaiser says the babies are healthy.

California could limit the number of embryos implanted in a mother -- or set up some protocols to reduce life-threatening multiple births. But there is no easy answer.

Hurlbut noted that each IVF embryo is more likely to create twins than in vivo fertilization. Doctors implanted six embryos in Suleman at her request, which resulted in octuplets.

It amazes me that a state that bans more than one parts per thousands of a certain chemical in children's toys because it might cause cancer or reproductive problems has no laws and no regulations to limit IVF multiple births, which we know raise the mortality rates and serious health problems for mothers and children.

So please, don't just bash the unemployed mother. If Suleman were married and rich, this still would not have a happy ending. It's time for America to wake up to the fact that IVF is not simply a benign reproductive choice.