Legal expert Tamara Adams shared her view on which of the Hensel conjoined twins she believes is the mother of their newborn child.
Tamara told UNILAD that this is a “highly unusual situation” due to the legal complexities involved in determining the parental rights of the sisters.
The Hensel twins, who first rose to fame with their popular TLC reality TV show, left the internet with more questions than answers after being spotted with a newborn on August 14, 2025.
“Who’s the mother… Who’s the aunt?” asked one utterly confused netizen on social media.
An expert explained the legal “complexities” of conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel’s newborn baby
According to Tamara, the Hensel twins are in a tricky situation regarding who the birth mother of the baby is, as they share one body and the same uterus, making it difficult to determine the child’s legal mother.
Stating that in most of the US and the UK, the law only recognizes “two legal parents at any one time,” Adams explained that only “the woman who gave birth to the child” can be the birth mother.
“This is where the complexities arise, because there is not a clear sole birth mother,” said the expert, referring to Abby and Brittany’s situation.
Tamara also revealed that if the twins themselves did not give birth, then the woman who actually delivered the baby would be legally considered the mother.
The twin sisters would not be considered the legal mom of the newborn if they did not give birth to the child
Addressing the legal parental rights of the 34-year-old sisters, the expert shared, “It might be that Abby, the twin who is married, would be registered as the birth mother alongside her husband as the birth father, and as she is married, her and her spouse, are the legal parents. However, this is not guaranteed.”
If the baby had any “genetic link” to Abby, Brittany, or Abby’s husband, Josh Bowling, and if “one of the twins sought to be a legal parent,” “they would need a parental order to transfer legal parenthood away from the birth mother.”
Adams did not shy from calling the twins’ newborn baby case a “highly unusual situation.”
Tamara calls the conjoined twins’ viral newborn baby pics a “highly unusual situation”
The Hensel twins are dicephalic parapagus twins, a rare condition in which both their heads are joined to the same body. But they each have a separate heart, stomach, lungs, and spine.
Having the world’s first baby born under such a medical condition, Tamara highlighted the potential complications the sisters might face regarding their parental rights.
“Abby and Brittany have survived and thrived far longer than any medical professional would have anticipated. If the baby they have been seen with is biologically related, a complex parental dispute could be on their hands, potentially being the first baby produced by conjoined twins with a shared uterus/other vital organs.”
Abby and Brittany were spotted with a newborn baby in unexpected paparazzi photos, leaving fans in a frenzy
Abby and Josh tied the knot sometime in 2021, keeping the news of their nuptials under wraps until last year.
Since having lived in the scrutiny of the public eye as teenagers on their reality show, the two sisters have since maintained a strong private life.
So, while they have not yet confirmed the identity of the baby or who the birth mother is, they did share a TikTok video on August 30.
The clip consisted of images of Abby and Brittany with a baby, with a cryptic caption that read, “Blessed.” They also added the hashtags “sisterhood” and “respect” to the post.
The two sisters feel “blessed” to have an alleged new addition to their family
In 2008, the mother of Abby and Brittany hinted that motherhood was in the cards for her conjoined twins, saying, “probably something that could work, because those organs do work for them.”
The twins were first spotted with a newborn in Arden Hills, Minnesota, during a casual outing.
Paparazzi captured the twins placing a car seat with the baby into a parked black Tesla in a parking lot while running errands with Abby’s husband.
The images sparked heated discussions online, with social media users speculating which of the twins was the baby’s mom.
“Baby’s first words will be which mom should I look at when I say mama,” commented one netizen.
Confused social media users shared their opinions online about the identity of the baby’s birth mom
