23 children born in just one year is a world record that’s pretty hard to top. But did it actually happen?.
Officially, the number of children born at a single birth that have survived is eight. This was achieved by Nadya Suleman (or Natalie Suleman) in 2009. Suleman gave birth to six boys and two girls after undergoing IVF treatment, also known as in vitro fertilization. All the babies survived. It made international headlines..
In 1999, it was reported that a Chinese woman had given birth to 23 babies in a single pregnancy. If this had been true, it would have obliterated the record, as well as the boundary of what’s biologically possible..
The story appeared in the Guangming Daily, a state-run newspaper in China. The newspaper reported that the mother, Ma Zhenghua, had given birth to 23 babies in a hospital in Xianning, just outside Wuhan, in central China. The report said that 13 of the babies were boys and 10 were girls, and all were born in good health..
The story was picked up by other media outlets in China and around the world. However, questions were soon raised about the veracity of the story. There was no independent confirmation of the birth, and the hospital where Ma Zhenghua was supposed to have given birth denied that any such event had taken place..
Ma also had a history of lying about her pregnancies. In 1988, she had claimed to have given birth to 11 babies, but this was later found to be untrue. Ma Zhenghua was quoted as saying, “I never wanted to be in the limelight.”.
In 2002, the Guangming Daily published an apology for the story, admitting that it had been fabricated. The newspaper said that it had been misled by Ma into believing that she had given birth to 23 babies..
The fact that Ma had previously lied about giving birth to multiple children suggests that she may have invented the story of the 23 babies as well. However, she was never charged with any crime in connection with the story..
The story of Ma Zhenghua giving birth to 23 babies is a reminder that not everything you read in the media is true. It is important to be critical of the information you consume and to be aware of the possibility that it may be false or misleading..
