Cousin marriages- yay or nay in this day and age.

[Deeba1234]

Re: Cousin marriages- yay or nay in this day and age.

@redvelvet

JustSilly,

How can you so confidently say that cousin marriages are not historically relevant? The US is the only western country that does not allow cousin marriage and even then it is allowed in about half of the states. It’s legal in Canada, Europe, Mexico and other parts of the world. Let’s allot some numbers to your scientific frowning upon, eh? According to the National Society of Genetic Councilors, cousin couples have only a 4-7% chance of having kids with birth defects from a baseline of 3-4 % risk in non-cousin couples. It’s not a dramatic leap and neither type of couples/marriage comes with a 100% guarantee.

RV, you’re not taking into account the fact that many families have been practising cousin marriages for generations, not just as a one-off thing..

Yes, the risk is still quite low for one pair of cousins who marry but that risk obviously multiplies the more times it happens and those statistics which the OP linked to are the consequences of that..