I saw this on Failblog...

[Parrothead]

and started searching for the article.

72-year old woman is pregnant with her grandson's baby.

And she knew he was her grandson before they decided to have a kid.

[Plaidman]

It's been proven before that people who don't know they're related, can easily fall inlove on sight. I remember reading a story about a brother and sister that were both given up for adoption met each other in their twenties and got married. They later learned they were related.


Look, is it gross? Yeah I guess there is an Ick factor.

However, they still love each other. Besides, the baby that is to be isn't both their genes, its his and a donor egg, (even if they both had it, the odds of having birth defects, while higher then average, is still not greatly huge as one thinks they will be).

Bottom line is, they love each other. I can't fault anyone for being in love. Its a pretty powerful emontion.

They arent even hurting anyone.

YET:
I don't know HOW their going to explain it to their kid. Will the kid get teased? Likely.

But kids also get teased over their own looks, names, hell people get picked on for wearing last years fashion. The only thing they can do, is raise the kid with love.

[Parrothead]

And if it was a surprise that they were family, I would agree with you, BUT he set out to find his Grandma, found her, then two weeks later they were bumping uglies. She KNEW he was her grandson, he KNEW she was his grandma, and they are announcing it anyway.

[blas87]

That's absolutely disgusting. This is not several hundred years ago where it was "the norm" to marry your relatives to keep the blood line going fresh.

It's sick and wrong to bump ugly and be in love with someone that closely related to you.

Gross.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

I find it at best disturbing as well, but that's not the question. The question is:

A) Is there a practical basis upon which significant harm to some person may be averted by preventing them from doing this?
and
B) Even if there is, is it our place to stop them from making the decision anyway?

IMO, while potential pitfalls exist for the child, not only are they slight, but of two the biggest one was quite consciously considered and dealt with by the people in question. That this may be an emotional problem for the child is far to immaterial to really go on IMO. Kids can be adversely effected by any situation and picking one out of the crowd as more dangerous in general than others, simply because we don't like it, is also far too immaterial for law. That said, given the extreme circumstances I believe it to be warranted that Child Proctective Services keep an eye on the situation before and after the child is born...

[Kimmik]

eww just ewww wrong wrong wrong... If you *know* that is not right... I mean I almost got it on with a cousin... but that is cause the last time we had seen each other I was a toddler... once we discovered who we were we both went nope aint right.

now I have the I am my own grandpa song in my head.

[LeChatNoir]

I actually am inclined to believe this is a hoax.

[Ghel]

I'm of two minds about this.

First, while I'm grossed out by both the incestuous relationship and the age difference of 46 years, I really don't think it's my business, or anybody else's, if two consenting adults want to play hide the sausage.

On the other hand, I don't think either of them has thought through what it's going to be like having a baby "together." The old lady is going to be 90 before the child graduates high school, if she even lives that long. Is the boy prepared to raise a child by himself? Sure, the old lady's got enough money socked away to pay for a surrogate mother, but I wonder how much of her retirement money is left after that?

I, too, did a search for details on this story. And I'm inclined to believe it's a hoax, too. The article claims that this story originated with New Zealand's New Idea magazine, but there's nothing on their site about it. Also, if they live in Indiana, you would think at least one news outlet in the States would have picked it up. Yet, all I can find after 10 minutes of searching is various blogs and sites saying they picked it up from somewhere else. That is, no original sources.

[draggar]

It looks hoaxish but nothing is on Snopes at this time.

I'll agree with Ghel, Wingates, etc... While I personally find it disgusting, who am I to tell how to consenting adults should live?

But - I think incest (would this be considered that?) is illegal in most US states.

[Kimmik]

But - I think incest (would this be considered that?) is illegal in most US states.

Some states it is allowed to marry your 1st cousin.

[Fryk]

Genetically speaking though, there's a big difference between sex with a first cousin and sex with a grandmother.

[Ghel]

But genetically speaking, it won't be the child of the old lady and the boy. Genetically, it will be the child of the boy and the surrogate mother, according to the article.

[blas87]

If they want to be laughed at and humiliated and made jokes of for the rest of their lives, they can just go for it. They know the risks involved with doing something like that.

[Lace Neil Singer]

It'll be the grandson and the baby that suffers the most, tho. The old lady is seventy two and probably won't live for much longer; either that, or she could even go senile and require nursing care.

As for the incest, it's a taboo for a reason. The facts are, that in civilised society, these taboos exist and to dismiss them is, in the opinion of the majority, the beginning of the downfall of society. *shrugs* I personally couldn't care less, but just wonder how many people would support this relationship if the grandson was a minor or suffering from mental problems. We also have taboos against murder, rape, child abuse and infanticide as well as incest. Some would say that to support one means that the other taboos will become commonplace. Who can tell?

[Giggle Goose]

I'm just curious to find out if a 72-year-old woman can even carry a baby full term??! If she couldn't conceive one the natural way then it seems highly unlikely she'd actually be able to carry a child for nine months.

Didn't they say they implanted a donor egg or did I read that wrong?

OT ETA: Is a "pensioner" a term used outside the US for "retiree?" Inquiring idiotic American minds like my own would like to know. Thanks :-)