Two-headed baby born in Bangladesh

[CaptainChewbacca]

I can understand why the babies are under police protection. Everything from death threats to nutters trying to carry them off and worship them as some sort of divine being.

Um no. Third world shitholes are not some alternate timeline while rest of world lives in 21st century. The urban parts of Bangladesh at least are not very different from cities elsewhere in better places on Earth except being more polluted with industrial smog, congested with traffic jams and with much more poor peoples than rich. It's a sucky place to live in but hardly something out of Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom. And why would someone worship them since this is a muslim country ?

I'm not talking about the government of Bangladesh building temples to the babies, I'm talking about local superstitions including animism and spiritism, which both continue to persist in Bangledesh. If fishermen still make offerings to river spirits there, you don't think anyone's going to see a two-headed baby as a sign of the supernatural?

[salm]

I can understand why the babies are under police protection. Everything from death threats to nutters trying to carry them off and worship them as some sort of divine being.

Um no. Third world shitholes are not some alternate timeline while rest of world lives in 21st century. The urban parts of Bangladesh at least are not very different from cities elsewhere in better places on Earth except being more polluted with industrial smog, congested with traffic jams and with much more poor peoples than rich. It's a sucky place to live in but hardly something out of Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom. And why would someone worship them since this is a muslim country ?

I'm not talking about the government of Bangladesh building temples to the babies, I'm talking about local superstitions including animism and spiritism, which both continue to persist in Bangledesh. If fishermen still make offerings to river spirits there, you don't think anyone's going to see a two-headed baby as a sign of the supernatural?

Yeah, and the same thing could happen in a non third world country. The article states that they´re under protection because a mob that large gathered. According to the article they gathered out of curiosity. Not that the mob was out to kill them. In a first world country the mob would most likely be smaller because TV coverage would be better and because everybody has access to a TV.
The article actually states that there were many well wishers. Nothing about hostile intents.
People are assuming this only because this is some third world shit hole and they believe that people from third world countries are monsters.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Actually, I said that it was very likely NOT placed in protection because people wish it harm. I recall a few years ago, a baby was born in India with extra legs, and people in her village were calling her the reincarnation of Kali.

[Max]

I found a video of them on youtube. It's extraordinary how they are completely in sync.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKWApOAG2g


Being from MN, I'm surprised I don't recall hearing about these girls. I'm completely intrigued by them now, lol

[Sarevok]

I'm not talking about the government of Bangladesh building temples to the babies, I'm talking about local superstitions including animism and spiritism, which both continue to persist in Bangledesh. If fishermen still make offerings to river spirits there, you don't think anyone's going to see a two-headed baby as a sign of the supernatural?

Thing is being muslim country rural insane beliefs tend to be bit different. "demons", "spirits" etc are usually not considered as an explanation when something unusual happens. Oh sure there is lot of crazy folks but the local brand of woo wooism focuses in other directions like certain charlatan islamic clerics soliciting money by pretending to be "saintly". In the past, at least all the conjoined births I can recall seeing on TV or reading about, it was nothing out of the ordinary compared to what would have happened elsewhere in the world.

[Shroom Man 777]

Then why were there one hundred fifty thousand people gathering to see them?

I mean, they might've not regarded the twins as demons or spirits or saints or whatever, but still... one hundred fifty thousand! Holy crap!

[Kojiro]

I'm quite interested to know how the Hensel girls are going to get along when they become adults. Like it says, how will work payments occur? Medical insurance for one or two? If they have a child, who is the mother (obviously both but legally speaking)? What if one were to commit a serious jail worthy crime? There's a bunch more questions but I fear those two will be absolutely dogged with red tape their entire lives.

[Broomstick]

You realize, of course, that they are not the first pair of identical twins to live in the US, yes?

As it happens, conjoined twins do not seem prone to crime. Chang and Eng Bunker did show up in front of a judge at least once for getting one of them getting into a knife fight, but the judge imposed a fine rather than imprison the innocent along with the guilty. That has always been a question with conjoined twins and I suppose it's fortunate we haven't had a lot of precedent. This did come up when the girls got their drivers' licenses - if they get pulled over for speeding, who gets the ticket? Or do both?

As Abby and Brittany are individuals paying one or the other is simply a matter of handing over the cash/making out the check/whatever to the proper one of the pair. There's no reason they couldn't have separate checking accounts and financial lives. The interesting question is how they're going to get work - could they hold down two separate jobs, or will they need to share one?

The medical insurance bit is an interesting question, but presumably it has been dealt with already as the girls have seen doctors during their lives.

The child issue is probably the thorniest. As it happens, conjoined twins tend to have trouble finding mates, but it does happen. If one of the two marries and the other does not that it will probably be that all children will be the legal children of the married couple. The girls marry two different men (and, as legal individuals they should be able to do so) then things get quite muddled. Paternity could be determined these days with reliability, so they might sort it out that way, with the wife of the father being the legal mother even though as a practical matter both girls would be mother to any child they have. If the girls run off and marry a pair of identical twins, though, even this won't work.

THEY will be dogged by red tape? They're hardly the only ones dealing with red tape in this world.

[Kie99]

Then why were there one hundred fifty thousand people gathering to see them?

I mean, they might've not regarded the twins as demons or spirits or saints or whatever, but still... one hundred fifty thousand! Holy crap!

I don't know if it's that unusual really, three million people watched the video of the Hensel twins on YouTube. Fairly natural for a lot of people to have an interest in an anomaly like this.

[CaptainChewbacca]

With the Hensel girls, I believe they generally only have to pay for treatment for 1 person. 1 set of shots, 1 physical, etc. If course, they may have to pay separately for optometry.

As far as parenting goes, as I understand it the girls share a set of reproductive organs, so any child produced will be both of theirs, which presents the notion of a child having THREE bilogical parents.