Twins marry each other

[Brett Favre 0]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1300308,00.html

 

Twins separated at birth have married each other without realising they were brother and sister, it has been revealed.

Case has thrown up fertility treatment issues

 

The British couple's marriage has now been annulled by the High Court after judges ruled the marriage had never validly existed.

 

The identities of the brother and sister and details of how they fell in love and married are being kept secret.

 

Soon after they were born they were separated and adopted by different families.

 

Neither was told they had a twin and had no idea they were blood relatives until after their wedding.

 

Pam Hodgkins from Adults Affected by Adoption said: "Incest is one of the strongest taboos in our society. But we are always attracted to a partner who is like us.

 

"And nobody can be more similar than a biological twin."

 

Professor Lord Alton uncovered the case when a High Court judge told him of a hearing he had dealt with.

 

"They were never told that they were twins," said Lord Alton. "They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction."

 

Experts say their case reinforces the need for children to have greater rights to know the identity of their parents.

 

Lord Alton believes the implications for in vitro fertilisation are huge - children conceived in this way can have as many as 10 IVF brothers and sisters.

 

He warns that new reforms drawn up by ministers could undermine existing rights.

 

The changes, now being debated in the House of Lords, would relax rules on who can have fertility treatment and clinics would be unable to bar single women and same sex couples from treatment.

 

Critics say it will weaken further the link between children and their biological parents - and even effectively end the need for fathers.

 

"The right for children to know the identity of their biological parents is a human right," he insisted.

 

"There will be more cases like this if children are not given access to the truth. The needs of the child must always be paramount."

[Jingus 0]

Key points:

 

1. Man, fucking sucks for those two. Especially since you know they've had lots of sex. And imagine just trying to explain to everybody why your marriage just suddenly ended out of nowhere.

 

2. Don't they require genetic testing in order for people to get married these days? That would've caught this.

 

3. How the hell is in-vitro fertilization involved in this case? The article never specified, it just randomly jumped from one subject to another.

 

4. Why are nonmarried women and lesbians barred from getting fertility treatment in the first place?

 

5. I do agree that adopted children really do have a right to know who their parents are/were. I've never heard a good argument otherwise... unless it's something like "you were born from your daddy/granddad raping your mommy/sister when she was twelve". That could prove fairly traumatic. But if the kid wants to know, I think they should know.

 

"There will be more cases like this if children are not given access to the truth."

Will there? This seems awfully one-in-a-billion type odds to me.

[Nighthawk 0]

Let 'em stay married. Just don't have kids. And hey, they could still adopt.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

I wonder how long they've been together..

 

It can be hard if they love each other. If I found out my long time lover was my twin.. I might just keep fucking them.

[luke-o 0]

They're doing a very similar storyline to this on British soap Hollyoaks. It's pretty much the best thing on TV.