really odd topic: Polyjuice Potion: Gender?

[jkusalavagemd]

No: HPFGUIDX 42853

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "grey_wolf_c" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:

> 
> Option A: ADN-transformation:
> -----------------------------
> 
> If you turn into a clone of the original, copulating would be 
possible, 
> and possibly getting pregnant would be, too. However, you would 
> misscarriage within the hour, since the person you're polyjuicing 
into 
> isn't pregnant herself, so you'd change into the non-pregnant 
version 
> of her. A woman turning into a man could help another woman to 
become 
> pregnant, too.
> 
> Speaking of which, and before anyone asks, I don't think that 
> polyjuicing into a pregnant woman would make you pregnant, since 
the 
> baby is a different person. Unless you happened to take tissue from 
the 
> fetus, he/she wouldn't be included in the potion. (and if you 
include 
> the tissue of the fetus, you'd probably die, since you won't have a 
> mother around you to feed you, give you air, etc.)
> 
> In this case, however, if a man turns into another, has (unsafe) 
sex, 
> and the woman involved becomes pregnant, the ADN would be the one 
of 
> the person he has polyjuiced into. The same works for a woman that 
> polyjuices into another woman (half of the ADN of the children is 
that 
> of the woman you've polyjuiced into), although it would probably 
> misscarriage, since they would have to be compatible for the fetus 
to 
> survive.
> 

This is truly an odd thread, but grey wolf's reply got me thinking.  
I assume that ADN refers to deoxyribonucleic acid.  (In America we 
use a slightly different acronym, DNA.)  He mentions two cases. In 
one pregnancy, the fetus would die when the polyjuice potion wore 
off.  I guess it would be theoretically possible for a pregnancy to 
continue to term and deliver, if the polyjuice was taken throughout 
the pregnancy, as Barty Crouch, Jr. took PP throughout the 
schoolyear. 

In the second, he wonders whether a pregnant woman taking PP would 
remain pregnant, and speculates that she would not, because of the 
different ADN (or DNA).  I would like to argue differently, in that a 
fetus does not recognize maternal tissue as foreign.  The immune 
response is absent.  This is a property that scientists have taken 
advantage of in such procedures as pancreatic cell transplants to 
attempt to cure Diabetes Mellitus.  I therefore think that it could 
be theoretically possible-- within the framework of this speculation--
 for a person taking polyjuice potion with material from a pregnant 
mother and fetal blood cells, which can be harmed without harming the 
baby, to become pregnant himself/herself.

I know it is like arguing how many angels could dance on the head of 
a pin, but I got caught up in the question.

Haggridd