The unnamed teacher and her husband are ecstatic about the pregnancy that was achieved with fertility treatment after she suffered two miscarriages — the couple are expecting six boys and six girls, the media reported.
Her husband, whose name was disclosed only as Marwan, is a teacher of Arabic at a high school in their home town of Gafsa, southwest of the capital Tunis. He said it was an “amazing and wonderful miracle”.
“In the beginning, I thought that my wife would give birth to twins, but more foetuses were discovered. Our joy increased with the growing number,” The Daily Telegraph quoted him as telling the local media.
In fact, the woman, who is thought to be as much as nine months’ pregnant, is about to eclipse the octuplets of the American mother Nadia Suleman.
Fertility experts have condemned the news, alleging that the doctors who treated the couple were “irresponsible” and that they risking the health and lives of the mother and her babies. Simon Fisher, a fertility expert from the University of Oxford, said the news of the duodecaplets was “horrendous” and the doctors involved were “irresponsible” to allow it.
“Whatever the reasons behind this, the chances of there being a happy ending are pretty remote. The chances of all of them surviving are extremely remote and the chance of some of them surviving without any problems is unlikely — they are likely to have significant problems,” he said.
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