My Daughter Is My Sister

A woman in Montreal, Canada, has a seven year-old daughter who, because of a genetic condition, will be unable to have children when she grows up. Most ladies in her situation would resign themselves to an unfair fate; or advise the daughter to consider adoption options at the appropriate time. But not this mother. She has had her eggs frozen and preserved, so that her daughter can conceive, if and when she so desires. That would make her daughter’s offspring her biological half brother or sister. Kind of weird, huh?

The above scenario raises some ethical and medical questions. If the daughter is fertilizing her own mother’s eggs, does that technically qualify as incest? And what about the risk of genetic abnormalities caused by inbreeding? And what about the legal issues? Would the daughter’s children be eligible to claim mom/grandma’s inheritance, both as children and grandchildren?

No one doubts that the mother has taken this radical step out of genuine concern and love for her daughter; and to give the latter a chance at having the sort of normal life most women take for granted. But is this one more instance of humans attempting to play God; to circumvent the natural order of life? And where does it end?

Back in the 1950s, there was a popular song entitled ‘I’m My Own Grandpa’, in which the protagonist proved, through a series of convoluted marital relationships, that he was indeed his own grandfather. Will there, one day, be a biological version of that? The mind boggles.