イギリスで生まれたときに離ればなれになった双子が結婚

イギリスが騒然となっているニュース。
産経より。

双子の男女が知らずに結婚、婚姻無効に　英国
2008.1.12 09:31

　【ロンドン＝木村正人】英国で別々の両親の養子となった双子の男女が血のつながりを知らないまま結婚、その後、双子と分かり裁判所から「近親結婚」にあたると婚姻を無効とされたケースが１１日、英上院の審議で報告された。英ＢＢＣ放送などが伝えた。
　ある上院議員が裁判官から聞いた話として紹介した。双子の詳細については明らかにされなかったが、２人は「双子とは知らなかった。お互いに避けがたい魅力を感じた」と結婚した理由を話しているという。上院議員は「近親結婚の悲劇を事前に防ぐためにも、養子となった子供たちには血のつながった親が誰なのか知る権利がある。隠しても真実はいずれ分かるのだから」と話した。
　専門家によると、双子の男女は血縁を知っていると拒絶反応を示すが、知らないとお互いに強くひかれる傾向があるという。養子縁組だけでなく、生殖医療が進む中で、子供たちに血のつながった親を知らせる方法が問題になりそうだ。

男女の双子だから二卵性双生児だし、顔が似てるとは限らないが、まさか
　結婚
しちゃうとはね。まったくもって悲劇と言うしかない。

今回は
　別々に養子縁組された
のが原因だったけど
　生殖医療による「同胞」
は、見えないところで増加している。
精子バンクを利用すれば
　父を同じくする同胞=異母きょうだい
が大量にできるだろうし、他人の卵子を体外受精して自分で出産or代理出産すれば
　母を同じくする同胞=異父きょうだい
がやはり何人も出来る。こうした
　生殖医療によって生を授かった子ども達の生物学上の「両親」
は、本人には秘密にされるだろうけれども、彼らが成長して結婚することを考えると
　生物学上の両親のどちらかが同じ「同胞」の近親婚
を避けるためには、明示しなければならない。アメリカなどでは
　非配偶者間人工授精で生まれた子どもが「父」を知りたがる
ということがあって、2002年にNHKがNスペで
　「親」を知りたい〜生殖医療・子どもからの問いかけ
として取り上げていた。
日本の非配偶者間人工授精(AID)では、精子の提供者は匿名だから、
　異母きょうだいの結婚
が起きていても分からないし、
　父娘の近親婚
の可能性さえある。
遺伝情報の近しい間柄の婚姻を禁じてきた指標の一つが
　家族制度
だったのだけれども、生殖医療の発達は、そうした「思いこみ」を壊していく。

BBCニュースの原文はこちら。

Parted-at-birth twins 'married'

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.

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.

We are naturally drawn to people who are quite similar to ourselves
Pam Hodgkins
Adults Affected by Adoption
"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.