Controversies Surrounding the Pregnancy
When the septuplets were born, the doctor who provided the McCaugheys with fertility treatment and assisted the birth was the subject of sharp criticism. Multiple reasons let to the controversy, the first one being that the McCaugheys shouldn’t have been accepted as patients because their daughter was less than one-year-old, and the couple was simply too impatient about their ability to become pregnant again.
THE MOTHER OF THE MCCAUGHEY SEPTUPLETS (Photo by Ambassador/Sygma/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
Since the couple already had a baby without any medical help, many felt that their problem wasn’t infertility, but impatience. Moreover, the McCaugheys stated that they couldn’t afford a second fertility drug injection that cost about $3,000, which attracted more criticism, with media wondering how the couple thought they could have a high-risk pregnancy and seven additional children if they couldn’t even afford fertility drugs.