Twins Have Different Fathers

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts) May 20th 2009 4:00PM

Categories: Pregnancy & Birth, Weird But True, Twins, Triplets, Multiples

I knew this was a possibility when it came to cats, but I did not realize that two human babies born of the same mother at the same time could have different biological fathers. But they can! And an apparently they do in the case of Dallas mother Mia Washington's 11-month-old twins Justin and Jordan.

It's called heteropaternal superfecundation and can happen when multiple eggs are released during ovulation and are fertilized by sperm from different men. In order accomplish that feat, of course, a woman must have sex with more than one man during that small window of opportunity. Washington admits that she was being unfaithful to her partner, James Harris, at the time the twins were conceived.

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The twins' unusual paternity might never have been discovered if not for the fact that Washington and Harrison noticed that the boys bore little resemblance to each other. DNA testing confirmed that there is a 99.999 percent chance that they do not have the same father and a zero percent chance that they do.

Only a few such cases have been documented in the entire world and Washington is still reeling that it happened to her. "Out of all people in America and of all people in the world, it had to happen to me. I'm very shocked," she says.

Harrison was probably shocked as well, but he is determined to work it out with Washington and raise both boys as his own. He has already forgiven her indiscretion and is working on forgetting. "It's a day by day thing. It's going to take time to build that trust like we had," he says.

Ah, but the happy ending to this story is marred by one small detail: The other father. While Washington says she plans to tell her sons their unusual story when the time is right, she has no intention of telling her former fling that he's a dad. I guess it is her call, but doesn't he have a right to know?

Source

Comments (7)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Shannon 5-20-2009 @ 4:44PM

ok, and she went public on the news with the story- I bet a man steps foward and she is in a huge mess. It would have been so easy to do the story with a blurred out face or not given a name. I think it makes her look..trampy. I admire her husband for making an effort to be father to both boys, they are brothers- but really, she was just looking for attention and now she may have more than she bargined for. Did she think people were going to say "hey, cool!"

SKL 5-21-2009 @ 1:41PM

She "looks" trampy? I should say!

LS 5-20-2009 @ 10:11PM

When did fathers become optional?

When did it become ok to get pregnant and then leave the father out of it? Like he doesn't have any say in the matter? He is the FATHER. Of COURSE he has a right to know, just like that little boy has an absolute right to know his father.

Mihir 5-21-2009 @ 9:48AM

her "former fling" has an absolute, 100% right to know. no doubt about it.

Angela Adams 5-22-2009 @ 6:04PM

What if the other guy is a deadbeat?

Sandyone 5-24-2009 @ 9:08AM

Why would the extra father have any right to know? She could've had an abortion and he wouldn't have any right to know about or stop that, so why do we want to go and confer any rights on him (or the baby) now?

Rob 7-30-2009 @ 8:58AM

tell me.. how does the law applies to this...twin with different paternal surnames??? WIERD???? maybe the law maker should have a look at this article..

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