news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7182817.stm
Quote:
A pair of twins who were adopted by separate families as babies got married without knowing they were brother and sister, a peer told the House of Lords.
Quote:
A court annulled the British couple's union after they discovered their true relationship, Lord Alton said.
The peer - who heard of the case from a judge who was involved - said the twins felt an "inevitable attraction".
He said the case showed how important it was for children to be able to find out about their biological parents.
Details of the identities of the twins involved have been kept secret, but Lord Alton said the pair did not realise they were related until after their marriage.
'Truth will out'
The crossbench peer, a former Liberal Democrat MP, raised the couple's case during a House of Lords debate on the Human Fertility and Embryology Bill in December.
"They were never told that they were twins," he told the Lords.
"They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation."
He told the BBC News website that their story raises the wider issue of the importance of strengthening the rights of children to know the identities of their biological parents.
"If you start trying to conceal someone's identity, sooner or later the truth will out," he said.
"And if you don't know you are biologically related to someone, you may become attracted to them and tragedies like this may occur."
Pam Hodgkins, chief executive officer of the charity Adults Affected by Adoption (NORCAP) said there had been previous cases of separated siblings being attracted to each other.
"We have a resistance, a very strong incest taboo where we are aware that someone is a biological relative," she said.
"But when we are unaware of that relationship, we are naturally drawn to people who are quite similar to ourselves.
'Incredibly rare'
"And of course there is unlikely to be anyone more similar to any individual than their sibling."
Mo O'Reilly, director of child placement for the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, said the situation was traumatic for the people involved, but incredibly rare.
"Thirty or 40 years ago it would have been more likely that twins be separated and, brought up without knowledge of each other," she said.
Today, however, adopted children grow up with a greater knowledge of their birth families - and organisations try to place brothers and sisters together.
If that were not possible, the siblings would still have some form of contact with each other.
"This sad case illustrates why, over the last 20-30 years, the shift to openness in adoption was so important," Ms O'Reilly added.
Well, what's your opinion? Personally, as long as they love each other, I don't see it as disgusting. True, they are related, but still, they apparently love each other and why should that prevent one from having love in their life?
i read this article elsewhere and the comments posted after it were pretty random.. most of them were getting all angry about IVF and forgetting that sperm doners are no longer allowed to be anonomous. *feels sorry for the guy who donated sperm to someone, and now has to pay child benifits*
although the article is about adoption, not sperm doners. >>;
i personally feel sorry for the pair, deeply sorry. perhaps if they were half brother and sister with no knowledge, but here they're directly related..
twins seem to have a very close relationship anyway.. they've been split apart once, twice just seems like torture.
do we have anti-incest laws here? i know some countries do. oo;
That sucks. Well, they can still be friends... lol, in a weird way... not their fault though.
I wonder if they're aware that incest only increases the risk of birth defect by 1%. Thats less than drinking a glass a wine while pregnant or smoking, etc.
I read that awhile ago, just some food of thought.
~Tobe
Well, that sucks. I mean, I'm all against incest and all that, but this is a rare, rare, rare occasion where I say, who the hell cares? Technically, it makes you a stranger. Why would the technicality that you are related from the point of birth, have anything to do with the fact that you met as friggin' strangers, fell in love, and went through the whole shebang?
I dunno... this should have been left alone for them to find out on their own... unless this is how they separated, which is because they found out on their own, and was their decision, then okay.
Yea, I read this elsewhere..But I was thinking it's good they didn't have children..Since having relations with your own family member can open a whole can of ugly worms for the child.
I find it an interesting story that they ended up together though.
According to the Daily Mail they seeked to have their marrage dissolved when they found out, so yeah it was their decision.
...I've heard of narcissism but this is just ridiculous.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
