Sex is set to be outlawed in the UK, with a new bill in parliament set to ban marriage between cousins due to various birth defects.
But the US doesn’t have a federal blanket on the books. rather than Legality First cousin marriage is decided by individual states – and 19 still allow it.
Figures show that about 250,000 Americans are married to first or second cousins, according to age statistics, some experts say the number is increasing.
However, studies show that children born to two blood-related parents are twice as likely to have birth defects such as heart and lung defects, clefts and extra fingers.
The children of this Breeding type They are twice as likely to be treated for an illness that requires antipsychotics, such as schizophrenia.
Marriage between first cousins is legal Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, ConnecticutDistrict of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, IndianaIowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.
In states where such marriages are not allowed, the penalty may vary. In Texas, Nevada, and Arizona, partners can be charged with a felony. In Georgia and Tennessee, it’s a misdemeanor.
This means that those who had sex with their first cousins could face fines, imprisonment, or both.
Some states allow first cousin marriage with some exceptions. In Arizona, Utah and Wisconsin, marked by a red stripe, the act is legal only when the partners are 55 or 65 and can prove they cannot have children.
In addition to 19 states where it is legal without significant restrictions ArizonaUtah and Wisconsin allow it under certain conditions.
Considering that each state handles cousin marriages differently, it’s hard to know how many people have been jailed or fined for it. But cases are often not reported, which means any estimate is an underestimate.
Ten states allow it with certain conditions or exceptions: Utah, Wisconsin, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.
in MaineFor example, cousins can marry after receiving genetic counseling that covers topics such as recent statistics on rates of birth defects compared to cousin and non-cousin marriages.
In Arizona, first cousin marriage is not allowed unless both parties are over 65 or one of them is childless.
In Utah, although first cousin marriages are illegal, they may be permitted if both individuals are over 65 or if one party is unable to have children. Similarly, in Wisconsin, first cousin marriage is prohibited. Still, it may be allowed in cases where one person is childless or both individuals are over 55 years of age.
Kentucky In the year The first state to ban marriage between cousins in 1850 and the most recent state to ban marriage between cousins was Texas in 2005.
in TennesseeThe Legislature is considering a bill to implement the same, and the State Council has approved the measure by a majority vote.
Consanguineous children are 25 percent more likely to be born with serious genetic disorders passed down from their parents, including cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia.
They are also at higher risk for developmental disabilities, vision or hearing problems, and heart defects.
Whether or not cousin marriage should be illegal in the U.S. is widely debated, with some arguing that the ban is an attack on the government, while others argue that the law prohibits fertility problems, the impact on family roles, demands for consent, and public hostility. It will be a straightforward decision.
Two American scholars from Massachusetts The Institute of Technology falls into the first camp, that is the law Cousin marriage is prohibited A reliance on government control to serve a public health goal is consistent with the concept of eugenics, even in its narrowest definitions.
It was shown in the Leita video that the family was unaware of their genetic issues due to inbreeding. They could not remember much about their parents or other family members
Marriages between parents and children, siblings, aunts and uncles, uncles and cousins are prohibited in all states.
It’s not entirely clear how many Americans are affected by incest, but earlier this year, a sexual health company reviewed hundreds of studies. 15 percent of American households.
That figure is a stark contrast to earlier estimates of about 2 percent of Americans who have had sex with a family member.
The previous study was not peer-reviewed, but Dr. David Lawson, a psychologist, founded it. Texas A specialist in sexual assault, he previously told DailyMail.com that any statistics on the subject are ‘probably conservative’ because it is under-reported.
Circumstances of contact with relatives and reproduction are often not reported because of the embarrassment two consenting adults may face, or because one partner is being abused and cannot speak out.
Sex goes against the biological purpose of marriage – to interbreed with DNA to advance the species.
Tight coils of DNA make up 23 pairs of chromosomes. There are hundreds of thousands of genes in the DNA section that determine how a person looks.
Is a gene dominant or recessive? The offspring generally get the dominant gene of the two parents, for example, brown eyes over blue eyes.
When both parents carry the recessive gene for blue eyes, their child will usually have blue eyes.
And since both parents in a consanguineous relationship share DNA, there is a greater than 25 percent chance that they will both share the recessive gene and pass it on to their child.
This is also important for genes unrelated to appearance, for example to determine whether a child is more susceptible to disease.
Cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and many other disorders are determined by the expression of recessive genes in both parents.
A report in the Journal of Medical Genetics he said.‘A 4-5 percent increase in infant mortality was found in children of first cousin marriages, and similar results were found in other species.
Fertility often affects a child’s IQ and development.
A group of Iranian researchers For a study published in 2019, they tested 100 people with intellectual disabilities, and found that in 61 patients, there were genetic changes that could cause the disability. 44 of these are caused by two copies of the recessive gene.
Children of First Cousin Unions a 4.25 times higher probability Being born with mental retardation.
Parents who share DNA are more likely to have their child die in utero or early in life, or have a child with vision and hearing problems, epilepsy and heart defects.
The United States was teased with a small family living in Ode, West Virginia, who emerged from obscurity in 1988. A documentary featuring an exclusive DailyMail.com report in 2004 shows just how much. reproductive years It has influenced different generations.
A family member, Ray, can only communicate with words and screams; Others have mental disabilities and other physical conditions. Several members of the family suffered from heart disease, but two did not reach it in infancy.
Siblings Ray, Betty, Larry and Lorraine and her son Timmy live in a dilapidated mansion in West Virginia. As Henry and John Whitaker’s children married and had their first child in 1937, identical twin brothers sparked the family’s kinship history.
