Wednesday, August 27, 2008
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) — The 27-year-old woman and her husband already had three children — all girls. They badly wanted a boy, and she had not conceived in five years, so doctors gave her hormones.
The startling result was healthy septuplets — four boys and three girls — heralded by Egyptian doctors as a miracle. But debate persists about the ethics of fertility treatment in a nation where medical oversight is lax, incubators and neonatal respirators are rare, and many families face pressure to have a son.
For the mother, Ghazala Khamis, the most pressing question now is how her impoverished family is going to get by. Her husband, Farag Mohammed Ali, a 31-year-old farm laborer, can find work only a few days a week.
Women are pressured to produce a son as a point of pride and for financial reasons. Boys help families by working and earning incomes.