I'll start by admitting to a particular bias. We live in a crowded world, one in which we already outstrip supporting resources in many areas. We need to limit family size to control population growth. This is well established fact and not opinion, though many people insist on living like we can fit all the people we want. I have to admit to being astonished at the number of families with four and more kids, wondering why these families need so many children.
My bias with the Yates family, however, is compounded by evidence that she was experiencing obvious signs of post-partum depression after child number two, yet she and her husband continued on with three more children. I don't think the medical community failed them so much as they pushed the limit...beyond the limit...in continuing to tempt fate with more children. Couple that with a crowded world and I'm left to wonder why they continued having children. Why?
I am only left to wonder how many more families out there insist on having so many children, further stressing a crowded world. I am left amazed at couples who don't keep themselves fully informed of the problems they face as they bring families into the world.
I am shocked that the state of Texas, my home state, doesn't allow insanity as a defense. Mrs. Yates was clearly insane. Anyone who commits such acts must by definition be insane. Sending her to prison makes us look like unthinking boors, or, worse, outright evil. The failure here was not limited to the medical community, nor did it stop with them or the couple themselves.
16 March 2002