Twins seperated at birth end up marrying... Oops!!

[JaffleMan]

I'm sure a lot of people have heard about this already, but anyway......


http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...84-948,00.html

TWINS separated at birth and raised by different families met later and married, but were forced to break up when they discovered their true identities, a British legislator has claimed.

"It's a tragedy for the couple who are involved, a terrible tragedy. Everyone's hearts will go out to people caught up quite unwittingly in a case of incest of this kind,'' Lords Upper House member David Alton said.

Mr Alton first raised the case during debate on a proposed new law on in-vitro fertilisation.

He said it highlighted the need for children to know who their parents were.

He feared that under the new law, the biological identity of one parent of a child born as a result of IVF could be removed from the birth certificate, creating the potential for similar tragic mistakes to occur.

Mr Alton told parliament last month he had heard about the twins from a High Court judge who had dealt with the case.

"It involved the normal birth of twins who were separated at birth and adopted by separate parents,'' Mr Alton said.

"They were never told that they were twins. They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction and married.

"When they did come to know their true identities, it led to their having to separate and also to a lot of heartbreak.''

News reports said their marriage was annulled.

No further information was available about the twins or where they were from.

There's a bit of controversy on this issue so i won't say much but man....

If I were to ever adopt kids I'd make sure they knew everything about their own personal identity.

[Raph's Girl]

Yea... read about this yesterday but didn't think to post it due to the um political-ness of sorts in the story.

Still tho. As a genealogist I agree. People need to know who they are and where they came from. Im just curious as to why neither of these people ever thought to look up their biological parents. I sure as heck would if I were adopted.

[KROW]

Damn, that had to suck. They must have been fraternal; not looking quite alike yet still bearing a resemblance. Makes me wonder if Milhouse's parents were like that...

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by KROW

Damn, that had to suck. They must have been fraternal; not looking quite alike yet still bearing a resemblance. Makes me wonder if Milhouse's parents were like that...

All opposite gender twins are fraternal.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by KROW

Makes me wonder if Milhouse's parents were like that...

I dunno.. Millhouse's mom is from Shelbyville....*thinks* And Shelbyville folk ARE known to marry their own relatives.... hmmm

[Ra]

Originally Posted by KROW

Damn, that had to suck. They must have been fraternal; not looking quite alike yet still bearing a resemblance. Makes me wonder if Milhouse's parents were like that...

Haha...I think it's a strong possibility.

But damn...that really would suck. Especially since they were married. But what are the odds? Really, falling in love with your long lost twin brother/sister is like...a one in a million chance or something.

[KROW]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

All opposite gender twins are fraternal.

Right. Wait... Isn't there a term for twins that kind of look alike but don't?

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by KROW

Right. Wait... Isn't there a term for twins that kind of look alike but don't?

There's only fraternal and identical. Identical are split from the same egg, fraternal are two separate eggs that are fertilized at the same time. Opposite-gender twins can't be split from the same egg, so they're always fraternal. But same-gender twins can also be fraternal.

[KROW]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

There's only fraternal and identical. Identical are split from the same egg, fraternal are two separate eggs that are fertilized at the same time. Opposite-gender twins can't be split from the same egg, so they're always fraternal. But same-gender twins can also be fraternal.

Shows what I know. Good thing I'm not a whatchamacallogist.

[Buslady]

That's really sad for the couple....i wonder if they had kids?

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by Buslady

That's really sad for the couple....i wonder if they had kids?

Presumably not, or I'm sure that would have been mentioned.

Ironically enough, inbreeding is very common among animals, both wild and domestic, as any zoologist knows.