By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Declining moral standards in the West continue to produce bizarre family situations, but few are as shocking as the Texas woman who learned that her 11 month-old twins do not have the same father.
According to a report by Sky News, Mia Washington, 20, of Dallas, noticed that her twin sons, Justin and Jordan, had different facial features. She and her partner, James Harrison, decided to get some expert advice.
Paternity tests, conducted by Clear Diangnostics, revealed what had happened – two eggs had been fertilised by two different sperm and there was a 99.99% chance the twins had different dads. Doctors at the lab had never seen such a result.
Mia later admitted she had had an affair and got pregnant by two different men at the same time. “Out of all people in America and of all people in the world, it had to happen to me,” she told the press. “I’m very shocked.”
Clear Diagnostics president Genny Thibodeaux said: “It is very crazy. Most people don’t believe it can happen, but it can.”
Sky News health correspondent Thomas Moore explained that “a woman can release two eggs from her ovaries, and the eggs will remain viable for 24 hours after ovulation. Sperm can survive up to five days inside a woman’s body, so a woman could sleep with different men several days apart, and get pregnant not once, but twice.”
This kind of double pregnancy is known technically as “heteropaternal superfecundation.”
While it sounds rare, recent research indicates that one in 12 non-identical twins are so-called bi-paternal, with the rise in fertility treatment and changing sexual behavior being blamed.
Mia’s partner says he has forgiven his fiancee for having the affair and intends to raise both children as his own.
However, he admitted it had been tough discovering the truth. “It’s a day by day thing. It’s going to take time to build the trust like we had,” he said.
The couple plans to tell the twins they are half-brothers when they are old enough to understand.
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