Debate rages as woman gets twins from different fathers |23 April 2018

Seychellois have joined a heated debate on what three parents should do after DNA tests showed two Ugandan men have each fathered one of two children delivered in a single birth by a married lady.

“I see no need to separate the children. I think one man should take the woman and the twins,” the distraught husband said before television cameras at the testing centre when the results were announced.

But while the common law partner seemed disturbed, the other father was jubilant and telephoned friends and relatives telling them at least one of the three-year-old kids had been proven to be his.

This is the third such case to be reported around the world this year, although when her babies of divergent colours were born some time back an Italian woman confessed to having slept with a black and a white man on the same day.

Last month, another set of twins in Vietnam were taken for DNA testing due to their “strikingly different” appearances, yielding reports that it was an “extremely rare but possible” case.

Many Seychellois contacted for comment were at first doubtful that such cases could occur but when told what medics have said in all three cases, some said whatever decision is arrived at in the Ugandans’ case should consider the interests of the children.

None of the Seychellois wished to be named or photographed but some mentioned that many families here also question the striking differences in the appearance of children supposed to be the offspring of their relatives and push for DNA tests to be carried out.

One man admitted to Seychelles Nation that he knows a six-year-old girl bearing his name was fathered by someone else but he continues to pay alimony.

“The child is innocent. The real father’s girlfriend has approached me to undergo tests but at my age I am not interested in such things,” said the man, who no longer lives with the girl’s mother.

Responding through Whatsapp, one Seychellois man wrote:

“There are five entities in this equation – two fathers, two children and one mother, who is the common denominator, but most instrumental to the wellbeing of the kids.

“The mother should live with the man she loves between the two so that the emotional wellbeing of the children is attained.”

Sent to a few men and women locally, they tended to agree with this Anse Boileau resident, but rejected his suggestion that:

“To determine the man she loves more, those concerned should find out which child she loves more or gives more attention.”

One lady responding to this said, “A mother will usually love children equally especially when they are at that age.”

Like some people in the news video clip that appears on YouTube, a lady interviewed on camera blamed the mother saying “this is a big shame to women. Some people are taking child bearing as a business, seeking to involve many men and lying to them that their children are fathered by the guys. Well, in this case it really happened”.

One man in Seychelles asked:

“Why did this mother simply not confess before the matter gained international attention?

“She, more than anybody else knew what had happened?”

How it happened

Bi-parental twins are not common but possible, according to scientists.

“Medical research has shown that when a woman has sex with two men within the same ovulation window, it can result in bi-paternal twins, known as heteropaternal superfecundation,” said Hilda Hutcherson, a clinical professor for obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University, explaining another case in the US.

“Fraternal twins come when a woman releases two eggs during ovulation instead of one — and both eggs are then fertilised.

With bi-paternal twins, she said, each egg is fertilised by a different man's sperm.

Hutcherson said eggs can live up to 24 hours in a woman's reproductive system. Sperm, on the other hand, can live up to five days in the woman's body, she said.

“It is possible that a woman could have sex with one man on Monday and have sex with a different man on Wednesday — and then when her eggs are released on Thursday, the two men's sperm living inside her could each fertilise an egg.”

She said there are rare cases in which a woman may ovulate more than once during her cycle, meaning that two eggs would be released at different times.

"There are fewer than 10 known cases of twins with different fathers in the world," said another expert. "There might be other cases but the parents and/or the twins were not aware of it or didn't want to announce it."

Hutcherson said fraternal twins make up about 2 percent of pregnancies — though that number may be growing — and bi-paternal twins are a fraction of them.

"It probably happens more often than we think; it's just that nobody is testing to see," she said.

Similar cases of bi-paternal twins have popped up in other countries.

A case in New Jersey made news when a court ruled that a father did not have to pay child support for a second twin because DNA evidence showed that he was a father to only one, according to the Star-Ledger.

The newspaper reported at the time:

“The mother, identified only as TM gave birth to twin girls in January 2013 and named A.S., a romantic partner, as the father of both kids when applying for public assistance. But after she admitted that she had sex with another, unidentified man within a week of having had sex with A.S., social services ordered a DNA test.

“In November of 2014, the tests came back. And they were surprising.”

A more recent case was reported by the Vietnam News Agency which said a twins' family was under pressure from other family members to undergo a DNA test and rule out a possible hospital mix-up.

“The bi-parental twins were taken for testing because of stark differences in their appearances,” the agency said.

Results showed that the mother's DNA matched both children, but the father's did not.

Le DinhLuong, president of the Genetic Association of Vietnam, told the news agency it was an extremely rare case.

“Our centre for genetic analysis and technology lab has tested and found a pair of bi-paternal twins,” he said. “This is rare not only for Vietnam, but for the world.”

The report said the results indicated that the man was related to only one of the babies.

A similar case was previously reported in 2009, with Mia Washington admitting she was having an affair when she conceived, with two eggs fertilised by the sperm of two men.

“I have twins, but they're by different fathers,” Miss Washington told Fox News.

Miss Washington and her partner James Harrison took DNA tests after noticing twins 11-month-old Justin and Jordan, had different facial features.

“Out of all people in America and of all people in the world, it had to happen to me. I'm very shocked,” Miss Washington said.

One twin was reported to have thin, straight hair and the other having thick, wavy locks.