Oh no....

As I was reading my friend Alex Elliot's blog today, I saw a comment by another blogger that I really like, but hadn't read in awhile. Expecting Executive had a post about a CNN article that she recently read; Unknowing Twins Marry Each Other. The title of her post, 'How Would You Ever Recover?' is very appropriate because, well, how would you?

Basically what happened was that a woman in the UK had a set of twins and placed them for adoption. They met as adults, were incredibly attracted to one another, and married. As soon as they discovered their relationship, they applied for an annulment, but there are no further details about the couple regarding how long they'd been married, how they found out, etc for legal reasons and for their own privacy (completely understandable).

The reason that this case is being highlighted is that the UK is currently discussing the laws regarding the birth certificates of children conceived by a donor egg or sperm. Under their current legislation, there is no requirement to report on the birth certificate that this is the case which, it is being argued, robs the conceived child of it's history. The children, from what I understand, essentially have the same amount of information about their biological parent (less in some cases) as do children of closed adoptions. Without knowing a lot about your biological origin, you do not have the same knowledge base with which to make decisions about your health, relationships and other life aspects as children who do.

It's an interesting topic, and one that I'm sure will continue to receive attention as the advances in science and fertility make the issue more and more complicated with ramifications that won't necessarily be able to be predicted until decades later when the children reach adulthood.

Sorry, there's not really any way that I could make this one funny without being completely heartless, and I have the draw the line of propriety for myself somewhere.