Midwives have been told about the benefits of “close relative marriage” in training documents that minimise the risks to couples’ children.
The documents claim “85 to 90 per cent of cousin couples do not have affected children” and warn staff that “close relative marriage is often stigmatised in England”, adding claims that “the associated genetic risks have been exaggerated”.
25 US stated by my count, but also I let my ethics develop separately from the law. There’s been a lot of very questionable things in the law in the past, and as such it’s not exactly a trustable guide for ethics imo.
That’s not the point you presented here, though. The point you presented here was birth defects.
The point you brought up there I still object to, though. While there can be power dynamics between cousins, it’s fairly rare for those to continue into adulthood, and I have long taken the stance “I don’t believe the state should have a say in what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home.”
The line that’s been drawn is people allowing their disgust to inform policy at best. If it were based in anything else the policies would be different.
So that’s why it’s a marriage ban?
Why did you bring birth defects up if marriage is the concern? You don’t get birth defects from a wedding.
Also in basically every state where it’s illegal to marry your cousin it’s illegal to have sex with them, too.
(When I say basically I mean I’m too tired to check half of the US’s laws on this, and the source I’m using says sexual contact is generally not permitted)