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White Couple Gives Birth to Black Twins

Aired July 09, 2002 - 14:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Here it is, the story that had all of us scratching our heads and made everyone in the newsroom say, "What The?" Yes, this one comes to us from London, where the UK's largest tabloid, "The Sun," featured the story of a white couple undergoing in vitro fertility treatment. The mother gave birth to twins. But it turns out the twins are black.

Andrea Catherwood of Britain's Independent Television Network picks up the big mix-up from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA CATHERWOOD, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tens of thousands of couples across Britain have babies every year using this method, in vitro fertilization, or IVF. But this is the first time we know of a mix-up at a fertility clinic, a white woman gave birth to black twins. Neither of the couples nor the NHS Trust can be named for legal reasons.

This is how IVF is supposed to work. The eggs are take from the woman and the sperm is taken from the man. They're mixed in a laboratory and the resulting embryos are implanted in the woman's womb. The mistake could have happened in two ways. The embryos created by the black couple could have been wrongly implanted in the white woman, or the sperm from the black man could have been wrongly used to fertilize eggs from the white woman, and those embryos implanted.

Samples are named, numbered and color-coded to make sure mistakes don't happen. But human error is always possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being very busy, being very tired, it is the same as anything. I think mistakes can happen. Unfortunately, the ramifications are huge in this industry (ph).

CATHERWOOD: It is reported the white couple want to keep the twins. But it is unclear who is the real parents are.

MARCUS DEARLE, LAWYER: It is a complete nightmare for both sets of couples. At the moment, it is uncertain as to who is the biological mother and biological father of the children. And I think it is very, very important for everyone not to panic, not to run off straight to lawyers.

CATHERWOOD: But the future of the twins now look set to be decided in an unprecedented court case in the autumn.

Andrea Catherwood, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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