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Father and daughter "in loving relationship" fight for custody of their baby

The woman became pregnant at 17, by her 36-year-old father in Spain, where incest is not illegal.

A FATHER AND daughter in an incestuous relationship are battling Spanish authorities for custody of their child.

Three weeks ago, the 18-year-old woman from the island of Mallorca, named only as Sara, gave birth to a baby girl.

The father was her own father, a 36-year-old man, named only as Cris, in an interview with the local Cronica Balear newspaper.

This makes the newborn baby Cris’ daughter and granddaughter, as well as Sara’s daughter and half-sister.

English language news website The Local explains that incest, in and of itself, is not illegal in Spain, once it involves the consent of both parties, and that the age of consent is 16.

Sara told the Cronica Balear that she was 17 when she became pregnant by her father.

Before the birth, the 36-year-old man’s ex-wife (herself Sara’s biological mother) reportedly accused him of child abuse before local social services, and the baby has been temporarily taken into the care of the state.

In response, the father and daughter couple have decided to go public, protesting what Cris calls the “moral judgement” behind the decision, and saying their admittedly “unusual” family set-up is preferable to the alternatives available.

As translated by The Local, Sara told the newspaper:

My relationship may be unusual but it would be worse for a child to be given up for adoption or grow up in a centre.
People say it’s is wrong, well I respect their opinion but I do not care.
The easiest option would have been to have an abortion but we decided to have our baby because we don’t care what people think.

Cris, describing their relationship as “unique and loving”, said “it started as they all do, with flirting, getting along and then trust.”

We may be father and daughter but she has never seen me as a parent because I am much more like a friend than a father figure.

On Tuesday, after media coverage of the case, the Mallorca Department of Social Affairs (IMAS) released a statement clarifying the rules and procedures surrounding custody of children, although it did not explicitly refer to Cris and Sara.

In the case of children in situations of neglect, IMAS is the body responsible for declaring a situation of abandonment and assuming guardianship of minors…
In other cases it is parents or guardians who request that IMAS take custody of children in extreme circumstances…
Moreover, in certain circumstances, there can be a risk, as defined [in law] of circumstances where familial conflicts or social and educational deficiencies could harm a child’s personal, familial, social or educational well-being or rights.

Read: Woman carries father’s baby and claims – We’re in love>

Read: Marrying your first cousin can double the risk of birth defects in your babies>

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73 Comments
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    Mute garretcollins
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    Aug 11th 2011, 3:22 PM

    @ Tal

    It says all viruses.

    Arthritis is not a virus however, it’s an inflammatory disorder.

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    Mute Tal Tallon
    Favourite Tal Tallon
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    Aug 11th 2011, 2:25 PM

    If it really works, then it could be very good.

    I wonder is it only recently contracted viruses or could it be used against someone who has arthritis for years?

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    Mute Andy
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    Aug 11th 2011, 7:07 PM

    Since when is Arthritis a virus?

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    Mute Tommy Murphy
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    Aug 12th 2011, 12:28 AM

    What an idiot!!! Give urself a big wet slap in the face

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    Mute Lenny Sloane
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    Aug 11th 2011, 8:56 PM

    Would be amazing if it can ultimately kill the HIV and Aids virus.

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    Mute Oisín Ó Dálaigh
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    Aug 11th 2011, 3:50 PM

    “A new drug called DRACO…”

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    Mute Shane McCarthy
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    Aug 11th 2011, 2:41 PM

    Dangerous stuff. What happens if the bugs become immune, we could all end up being much worse.

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    Mute Sarah Hempenstall
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    Aug 11th 2011, 4:33 PM

    Looking at the paper; they target the virus by inducing programmed cell death (or apoptosis) in infected cells. The reason bacteria become resistant is that you are killing off the bacteria with a compound that you can tolerate but the bacteria cannot. The problem is that you’ll eventually come up against a bacterium that has innate immunity to a certain antibiotic and won’t be killed. Then it will divide and multiply and produce a big whack of resistant bacteria and, because of something called horizontal gene transfer, they can transfer resistance into bacteria that were not resistant at the start. A bacterium is a cell in and of itself and can reporoduce-a virus can’t. It reproduces ONLY by hijacking the cell it has infected. If what this group in MIT have developed works it will target and kill off infected cells. Since the viral marker they target is dsRNA, something the virus produces as it reproduces, it looks pretty unlikely a virus could ever, ever develop resistance simply because it can’t exist without producing dsRNA. dsRNA is not produced by healthy cells so it looks like a good marker. It’s early days but it looks like an elegant solution to a problem that kills and injures millions. Don’t be so negative and immediately assume we’ll all be worse off!

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    Mute Colin Rodgers
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    Aug 12th 2011, 10:31 AM

    Pretty sure this is how Zombie Apocalypses start.

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    Mute Brian McGuinness
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    Aug 12th 2011, 8:36 AM

    This would put a selection pressure on viruses forcing any more virulent mutations to ultimately survive, reproduce and beat anything we can throw at them. In short we’re talking the end of the world here folks. On the bright side, the weather’s supposed to be not too bad for the weekend. Yay!

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    Mute Tal Tallon
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    Aug 12th 2011, 9:37 AM

    Shit, I meant long term virus’s… Ah well

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