Her Daily News

For the past month, it seems like everyone has been talking about Nadya Suleman, the California woman who gave birth to octuplets. She has been the subject of many discussions, ranging from medical ethics to political policy, and her physical resemblance to Angelina Jolie has been fodder for many a wiseacre. So perhaps it was inevitable that eventually Dr. Phil, that noted dispenser of wisdom, would eventually weigh in. And did he ever!

According to a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Phil McGraw spoke with Ms. Suleman, who disclosed her fears for the future of her family. It is well-known that Ms. Suleman, a single mom, relies on government assistance, including food stamps and disability payments, and she revealed that hospital officials expressed concerns about her ability to care for the octuplets, along with her six other children. She now fears that her babies will not be released to her once they are developmentally ready - indeed, Child Protective Services has the authority to place a protective hold on the children if they believe Ms. Suleman to be unfit. They could even be placed in temporary foster care.

So what does Dr. Phil have to say? While he echoes the hospital’s concerns, citing her lack of money, space, and resources, he does not believe that putting the children in foster care is an attractive alternative, as it disrupts the family unit. He told the Times, “You can’t turn your back on the mother without turning your back on 14 innocent children. They didn’t ask for this.”

During the 2008 presidential campaign, GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin drew criticism and controversy when it was found out that her teenage daughter Bristol was pregnant, especially in light of the Alaska Governor’s well-publicized views favoring abstinence-only education. More recently, though, Bristol, now 18, has spoken to the media about the birth of her son Tripp - and she faced some tough questions about the media attention that she had to deal with during her pregnancy.

People reports on Bristol’s recent segment on Fox News in which she told Greta Van Susteren about her hope that her experience will serve as a lesson for others - she hopes that teens will wait longer than she did. She told Van Susteren that her situation was not the easiest one to raise a child in: “I hope people learn from my story … It’s so much easier if you’re married, have a house and career.” Nevertheless, she insists that the choice that she made to keep her child was not dictated by her mother’s staunch anti-abortion stance, stating emphatically, “It was my choice to have the baby.”

Her views do differ from her mom’s on the issue of abstinence-only education. While Governor Palin strongly favors teaching abstinence, her daughter feels that this stance is not realistic. Indeed, telling her parents of her own pregnancy was difficult for the teen - she says that the conversation was “harder than labor.” Nevertheless, she enjoys being a mother - she said, “I love it, just seeing him smile and stuff. It’s awesome.” And Tripp’s grandmother made an appearance during the interview as well - of all her family has been through in recent months, she says, “Hey, life happens.”

In building bridges, one must take down a few walls, and as Secreatary of State Hillary Clinton knows, one of the toughest walls to break sown is misconception - so she sought to set one straight. “If you want to know if democracy, Islam, modernity, and women’s rights can coexist, go to Indonesia,” she told other attendees at a dinner during her visit to Indonesia, chronicled in a recent New York Times article. Indonesia holds a special meaning for the current administration - President Obama lived there for part of his childhood. However, the country has also undergone what Mrs. Clinton referred to as a “great transfomation” - after the Asian financial crisis in the late ’90’s, Indonesia has bounced back as a democracy after escaping the autocratic rule of Suharto.

The Obama administration is reaching out to other countries in an effort to establish diplomatic relations, and it seems that Islamic countries are at the top of the list. However, Mrs. Clinton emphasized that this effort is not at the expense of worldwide diplomacy. She said to reporters, “There is no pigeonholing; there is no exclusivity. We are reaching out to the entire world.” Nevertheless, Indonesia does hold special interest for the Obama administration - the country’s counterterrorism efforts, along with environmental factors, give the administration particular motivation to increase relations. The global economic crisis is a factor as well - and as it is a global crisis, the administration is making an effort to guard against protectionism. As the world economy recovers, no nation is an island.

This time of year brings to mind romance, but women can give themselves the biggest Valentine of all by banding together to end domestic violence. On Friday, a bevy of big Hollywood names assembled to mark V-Day, playwright Eve Ensler’s event meant to bring an end to violence against women. The luncheon brought together stars of the screen, including Rosario Dawson (far right), who most recently appeared in Seven Pounds. According to People, Dawson reminded the crowd that violence against women and their families touches those in all walks of life. She said of Jennifer Hudson, who lost three family members in a triple homicide last October, and Rihanna, whose boyfriend Chris Brown is under investigation for domestic violence, that “these women are our sisters.” She also encouraged serious discussion of domestic violence rather than the treatment of the subject as gossip.

The event also featured the reading of accounts of violence against women overseas - in particular, attendees listened to accounts of the rape and mutilation of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Actress Jessica Alba (second from right) read the story of one woman, and found herself brought to tears as she did so. The stories hit close to home for some stars in attendance. South African actress Charlize Theron (not pictured) recalled similar occurrences in her home country - the Oscar winner said, “I was born and raised in a country with similar turmoil. People want to help, but don’t know how.” Hopefully, efforts like V-Day will bring violence against women closer to an end.

Pregnancy is a wonderful time in a woman’s life, but it can also be one of the most complicated, health-wise - during pregnancy, women are at risk for conditions such as hypertension and gestational diabetes. It has been well-documented that obesity during pregnancy increases a woman’s risk for those conditions, and recent findings indicate that it is a risk factor for the fetus as well. According to a British study reported in the Los Angeles Times, the children of obese mothers are at an elevated risk of birth defects.

3% of all infants have birth defects, but the study, conducted at Newcastle University, reveals that the rate is 4% among the children of obese mothers. These birth defects include, but are not limited to, heart defects, cleft palate, limb reduction defects, anorectal atresia, and spina bifida. Many of these birth defects are potentially fatal - one-fifth of infant deaths are the result of birth defects. In the infants who survive these defects, quality of life is often compromised, as birth defects can result in disability and a lifelong need for medical intervention. The cause of the increased risk was not determined, but it is speculated that nutritional factors play a part. Nutrition during pregnancy is critical for proper fetal development, according to the Mayo Clinic’s article on prenatal nutrition. In particular, folic acid is noted for its properties in reducing the likelihood of certain birth defects in the spine and brain. A woman who monitors her weight during pregnancy may be more likely to give special attention to proper nutrition as well.

The internet allows instant access to information about any person. Your career. Your personal life. Your ranking in the sixth grade spelling bee. It’s all out there, and somebody who is particularly privacy-minded could find it rather disconcerting. Well, if you opt into Google’s new Google Latitude, web users will be able to track you even more closely - your location at any given time will be tracked via the internet.

Marketed as “a fun way to feel close to the people you care about,” Google Latitude is a feature in Google Maps that allows users on computers or smartphones to view the location of fellow users on the map - they can then communicate with the person they’re viewing by text, chat, or Gmail. According to ChannelWeb’s article, this is an opt-in feature - you can only be tracked if you agree to be tracked. Proponents of Google Latitude cite scenarios in which the technology could come in handy. For example, parents of teens could keep tabs on their children’s actual locations - “I’m studying at the library” won’t fly when Google Latitude finds your teen at a different location (although the ability to manually enter a location could potentially foil the intentions of protective parents).

However, many have come to question the consequences of location mapping. ChannelWeb takes a look at the application of this technology in the workplace, and the potential legal pitfalls for employers who use it to track employees. JR Raphael of PC World goes one further, citing precedents where information that had once been private later became public - and compromising Google’s assurance that only your friends and family will see your data. As a woman living in the city, I’ve had enough of that “somebody’s following me” feeling without the high-tech guarantee that someone is, in fact, following me. Think I’ll pass on this one.