Are siamese twins committing adultery if they get married?

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Brittany and Abigail Hensel are siamese twins that are connected at the neck. They have two brains, one torso, two arms, and two legs, and one set of sexual organs. They are considered two people by law. They have two driver’s licenses and they both are interested in different subjects and they have distinct personalities. here’s a link to an article about them: http://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/abby-and-brittany-hensel-2017-133084

Assuming they’re catholic (they’re not) but let’s say they sought sacramental marriage in the church. Would they even be allowed to get married? Would the husband of one be committing adultery against the wife every time he slept with her since she’s conjoined with her sister?
 
I think it has been determined that there is no licit way for them to be married in the Catholic Church.
 
It’s in the catechism that only one man and one woman can be joined. Abagail and Brittany are two people despite the shared body. It is impossible for only one to be joined to a man because of their body, so it becomes impossible for them to be married.
 
I remember watching the documentary that profiled these amazing young women. I don’t think that ever, in my short 64 years have I ever read or heard that a vagina is what makes you a person. The brain is what distinguishes our personalities and the twins are two very seperate individuals. If one or both of the twins fall in love and wish to marry, then more power to them. Remember, love trumps hate.
 
I would bet (not real money, because I could lose this one) there is no Catholic answer on this one. It is such a rarity that it likely will never need one. As to any rule, there simply is none that meets a scenario where two people are also one person.

I am changing my answer some what. Where there is no law, then the law of freedom applies. This would be a case of spiritual accompaniment and personal conscience.
 
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ajourney, i know that a vagina does not make you a person, but part of marriage is having the ability to conceive a child and engage in the marital act. since they both share a body, if they engage in that act, are they committing adultery? can they marry is my question. i know they’re two people
 
:roll_eyes:

This isn’t about “a vagina is what makes you a person”. This is about two people sharing one body. They are separate individuals, and therefore it would be against the dignity of one to have her body have sex with someone she wasn’t in a relationship with, nevermind married to.

This isn’t about hate. I don’t hate them. They are not that much younger than I am. I do wish them the best and pray that their dignity is upheld. I could not imagine giving my body to “take one for the team” or asking someone else to do so because we shared a body. How very disturbing.

They are not free to marry because they are not capable of giving themselves to a man as an individual–which is required of marriage.
 
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the original siamese twins had two sets of sexual organs and they were only connected by a really thin piece of skin. this is entirely different.
 
jdavani said:
what about a josephite marriage? could they be married that way
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Since the Pope has to decide on that, it would be up to him, but even he can’t bend natural law. By allowing the marriage between one of the women and a man, he’d literally be forcing the other woman into marriage. I don’t think even the Pope is capable of that.
 
that’s why my question asks you to assume they are catholic. legally they would be able to get married
 
Well, the Church does govern all people whether or not they choose to accept it. Lutherans are a very close religion to Catholic and I believe to would be unacceptable to them, too, although without the centralized leadership of the Catholic church, I’m sure they’d say yes just for apperances.

Essentially, what it’d open up is the case for polygamy.
 
But the church does have jurisdiction. That’s like an american ex-pat traitor who gets caught and brought to american courts telling the court that they have no jurisdiction
 
Rather than looking up rules and regulations, it might be better to go back to the basic commandments to love God and love one another. If they can find a way to marry and even to have sexual relations with love toward all three who are involved – with no jealousy or coercion – then I don’t see why it wouldn’t be okay. At the moment, I am unable to envisage in detail how it would work with charity toward all, but I would not rule it out just yet.
 
That’s heresy. Because if it’s adultery, it can never be loving even if they think that’s “love”
 
I’m not arguing that it will be applied, only that in creating our answer to others we can understand from where they are coming from.

However, in this case, natural law prevails.
 
jdavani said:
That’s heresy. Because if it’s adultery, it can never be loving even if they think that’s “love”
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You are starting from the position that it is adultery according to a rule, the commandment against adultery. But is it adultery? What is adultery? The rule regarding adultery does not directly answer the question because it does not mention conjoined twins. I’m looking for the principle of love from which the commandment springs, which we hope will guide us to understand whether conjoined twins with shared genitals can marry.

Also I think you are using the term heresy incorrectly (assuming you were responding to my post and not someone else’s). By asking questions and postulating answers, I surely have committed no heresy.
 
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