David Vance SubstackRead More
Nothing shocks me about the NHS anymore but I have to admit to being pretty disgusted at this news!
The NHS is teaching midwives the ‘benefits’ of cousin marriage despite it increasing the risk of birth defects. New guidance says concerns about the risks of congenital diseases are ‘exaggerated’ and ‘unwarranted’ on the grounds that ‘85 to 90 per cent of cousin couples do not have affected children’. The national average rate for unaffected children is 98 per cent. Admitting there are some ‘risks to child health associated with close relative marriage’, the guidance says these should ‘be balanced against the potential benefits… from this marriage practice’.
It goes on…
And marrying a relative – fairly common in the Pakistani community – can offer ‘economic benefits’ as well as ‘emotional and social connections’ and ‘social capital’, the document says. It adds that staff should not ‘stigmatise’ predominantly South Asian or Muslim patients who have a baby with their cousin, because the practice is ‘perfectly normal’ in some cultures.
