DNA test shock: I accidentally married my cousin!

Cousins who fall in love have a right to voice concerns. After all, marrying a cousin just isn’t done, right? At least that’s what we’re taught to believe. Only primitive people who live in isolated places marry cousins, and it’s dangerous and leads to creating stupid children. Or does it?

Daughter, Son. Father’s mother, Father’s father. Mother’s mother, Mother’s father. Son’s daughter, Son’s son. Daughter’s daughter, Daughter’s son. Sister, Brother.

By Carl O. Colorado law permits first cousins to marry without restriction. Someone called our office last week with a simple question about whether it was permissible to marry a cousin. Pursuant to C. In Colorado, the prohibitions are absolute, and do not depend upon whether one spouse is able to bear children, or whether the relative is half-blood or whole blood. Because Colorado has no such restrictions, there are occasional news reports about the state being a “destination” for first cousins from other states who wish to marry.

For a complete listing of the legality of marrying cousins in each state, see this Wikipedia article. Does marrying your cousin increase the chances of children having birth defects? First cousins share about This was heralded as a reason why the concern over birth defects is overblown. But taking the average between both sets of numbers, the chance of a birth defect rises from 3. Moreover, most states criminalize sexual relations between such family members, even between consenting adults.

In Colorado, for example, incest is a felony. Royal families have a long history of marrying other royalty to protect the royal bloodline or to cement foreign alliances.