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Looking at the number of states that ban cousin marriages
in the USA, one can easily conclude that most states prohibit cousin
marriages. If we consider the population of each state, however, we find that most people in
the U.S. can marry their cousin.
How close is too close to marry?
This elementary question has a tremendous range of opinions
along with strong emotional attachments. At one time, the Roman
Catholic Church prohibited cousins to marry even if they were only
sixth-cousins. Moreover, Pope Zacharia (A.D. 471) insisted that
marriages were prohibited whenever any relationship could be
traced.
Today, the opinion of cousin
marriages is still a hot button topic. Even with science clearly on
their side, cousins fight to be accepted by their family and,
sometimes, ill-informed doctors and lawmakers.
Why shouldn't cousins be allowed
to marry? Opponents of cousin marriage generally cite the Bible or
genetic birth defects. As we have learned, the Bible loves cousin
marriages. So what about birth defects? The facts show that
first-cousins have the same increased risk of having a baby with
birth defects as a woman over 30 or 35. If a lawmaker even thought of
passing a law that would prohibit women from having children after
they reach age 35, the lawmaker would be ran out of town. This is
confirmation that marriage restrictions against cousins are based
only upon faulty presuppositions and prejudice.
The map on the previous page perpetuates the cousin marriage
myth. This map is not indicative of fact or reason. The states that
prohibit cousin marriages should reconsider their marriage restrictions.
Most of these laws were passed before modern genetic knowledge,
and are in fact, baseless. Case in point: Maine now requires genetic
counseling before allowing cousins to marry. The old law prohibiting
cousins to marry was amended in 1987. New Hampshire based this on
current findings.Requiring cousins to undergo
genetic counseling is quite restrictive. Perhaps all couples should
undergo genetic counseling before marriage, as non related couples
have only a slightly lower chance of having birth defects anyway.
Genetic counseling is a valuable option for any couple concerned
with birth defects. This begs the question: should genetic counseling
be required for cousins as a prerequisite to marriage? If the purpose of such a requirement is to reduce the number
of birth defects, the government should start by requiring genetic
counseling for all couples that have an elevated chance of having
children with birth defects. Cousin couples are a very small segment
of our population with a slight increase risk; however, cousin couples appear to
catch the brunt of our ill-informed lawmakers attempt to reduce
birth defects. Marriage prohibitions and restrictions for cousin
couples defy common sense.
The 31 states, which do not allow cousin marriages, are still
in the dark ages. It is evident that states resist change to civil
laws. Consider the law that prohibited interracial marriages:
Loving v. Virginia
Richard and Mildred Loving were married in 1958 in Washington
D.C. because their home state of Virginia still upheld the anti
miscegenation law which stated that interracial marriages were
illegal. They were married, and then lived together in Caroline
County, Virginia. In 1959 they were prosecuted and convicted
of violating the state's anti miscegenation law. They were each
sentenced one-year in jail, but promised the sentence would
be suspended if they agreed to leave the state and not return
for 25 years. Forced to move, they returned to Washington D.C.
where, in 1963, they initiated a suit challenging the constitutionality
of the anti miscegenation law. In March of 1966, the Virginia
Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the law, but in June of 1967,
the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled the law unconstitutional.
Thus, in 1967 the 16 states which still had anti miscegenation
laws on their books were forced to erase them.
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I must liken cousin marriages to interracial marriages here. These
types of marriage restrictions were born out of the Eugenics
Movement. It's the movement that brought us segregation, sterilization, strict immigration restrictions (i.e. cousin
marriage restrictions), and finally the Holocaust. These laws were
based upon "solid" science at the time and supported by top scientists..
Interracial marriages
are still considered odd, and is another cultural taboo (in the
US anyway) . The good news is that laws rooted in bigotry and ignorance
can and must be changed! Perhaps laws banning cousin marriages are
one of the laws that must be challenged as in the Loving v. Virginia
case.
Love is an intoxicating gift. Love will cause people to do things
they might not do normally. For instance, cousin & interracial
marriages. Love sees through cultural boundaries. Love doesn't care
what someone else may think. The "normal" boundaries seem
insignificant when you are in love.
Everyone reading this has first-cousins in their family tree. If there were any truth to the myth of cousins and birth defects, we would all be in wheelchairs -- if we could figure out how to make them.
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Monday February 08, 2010