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A woman has given birth to twins fathered by two different men in what is believed to be an unprecedented case in Australia.
The mother became pregnant naturally while already carrying an IVF embryo on behalf of another couple.
The extraordinary circumstances meant two babies with entirely separate biological parents developed in the same womb at the same time.
The children - a boy biologically belonging to the surrogate mother and her partner, and a girl belonging to the commissioning couple -were born by caesarean section in November 2025.
There has been no disagreement between the two families over who should raise each child.
Both couples have been raising their respective children separately since the birth, with the arrangement proceeding amicably.
However, the unusual case only entered the public domain this week when it came before the Children's Court of Queensland.
Queensland's surrogacy legislation prohibits the separation of "birth siblings", creating a legal obstacle that required a judge to determine whether the two babies fell under that definition.
The extraordinary circumstances meant two babies with entirely separate biological parents developed in the same womb
|GETTY
The IVF couple were required to apply for a parentage order granting them legal parentage of their daughter, which was not contested by the birthing couple.
Judge Jodie Wooldridge ruled that the two infants were not "birth siblings" as defined under the relevant legislation.
Instead, she classified the children as "gestational twins" in what she described as a "unique" case.
The distinction allowed the two families to continue raising their respective children separately without breaching Queensland's surrogacy laws.
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The unusual case only entered the public domain this week when it came before the Children's Court of Queensland
|According to the court's judgment, the surrogacy arrangement was altruistic and the two couples had been introduced through mutual friends.
The woman whose IVF embryo was carried by the surrogate had been born without a uterus, meaning she was unable to carry a pregnancy herself.
Both couples engaged an independent counsellor earlier this year to prepare a report for the court ahead of the legal proceedings.
The families assured the judge that the two children "will grow up knowing one another and be raised with an age-appropriate understanding of their place within the wider family network."
The woman whose IVF embryo was carried by the surrogate had been born without a uterus
|GETTY
A similar case emerged in California in 2017 when Jessica Allen, who was acting as a surrogate for a Chinese couple, discovered that one of the two boys she had carried was her own biological child.
Scans during the pregnancy had shown two babies, but subsequent DNA testing revealed that only one was biologically related to the intended parents.
Both babies were initially handed to the commissioning couple following the birth.
Mrs Allen told the BBC: "I immediately freaked out and I asked my case worker, 'What's going on? How can this be?'
"And she didn't have any answers for me."
A lengthy custody dispute followed before Mrs Allen eventually secured the return of her son after genetic testing confirmed she was his biological mother.