It would have been a beautiful reunion story. Last year, Penny Lawrence, 28, set out to find her birth father whom she had never met. From her home in Ireland, she was able to track Garry Ryan, 46, down in Texas. They met, connected ... and then connected a little too much. She's now pregnant with his baby.
It is beyond disturbing and completely and utterly unfathomable to me that something like this could happen, but they act as if it's the most natural, beautiful thing in the world. They say they're in love and deny that it's incest. Instead they say they are victims of Genetic Sexual Attraction. Lawrence told The Sun:
We are not committing incest, but are victims of GSA. We’ve never experienced a father-daughter relationship, so we’re just like any other strangers who meet in adulthood.
Only he's your BIOLOGICAL FATHER. You are not like strangers at all. This attraction may or may not be a real thing, I don't care. Even if you're attracted to someone, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SLEEP WITH THEM. Keep your feelings repressed and move on.
Ryan told the paper:
It’s no different than if I met Penny in a bar. I’d have fallen for her as I have now. It doesn't feel like we are doing anything wrong.
Only it's illegal ... and disgusting.
I'm sure it's tough to grow up without a father, but it still doesn't excuse or explain such a relationship. Apparently Ryan tried to marry Lawrence's mother when she first found out she was pregnant at 18, but he says her family "disapproved of the relationship and didn't want me around." Sounds like they were smart people.
If there wasn't a baby involved, I would be more willing to turn a disgusted blind eye to the whole mess, but when you bring a child into it, it's just flat-out wrong. They are clearly not mentally stable enough to serve as parents to this child, and I hope someone intervenes to see that they don't.
Do you think this father and daughter should be allowed to raise their child, who is a result of incest?
Image via Hafdis H/Flickr
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Comments 490
That poor kid will need years and years of therapy, and who knows if they will end up telling the kid the truth or even if they decide to have more children. Yes its gross, and so many shades of wrong. I would like to say, "let them raise the kid, and may God be with them" but I just keep coming back to what kind of cycle this can cause. The kid being raised to think its okay to "keep it in the family" and having to tell people that his mom and dad are in fact father and daughter. Yeah I really don't know what to think on this. My mind is blank.
They share the same genes putting the chlld at greater risk for illnesses that would not have been a concern. I understand the "if we'd met in a bar" explanation, however they knew they shared the same genetic make-up, he is her biological father. I still see her as a victim in some ways. She was seeking someone she needed to know...he took advantage of her need-no matter that she is old enough to know better. This is so sad on so many levels.
...barf.
Double barf.