Hospital staff have been told by officials to stop discouraging first-cousin marriages despite the increased risk of birth defects among offspring.
A government-funded NHS monitoring board told healthcare staff it is “unacceptable” to deter people from first-cousin relationships.
The National Child Mortality Database said to NHS staff: “It is unacceptable to discourage close relative marriage in a blanket way”, adding the risk of giving birth to a baby with a genetic disorder is only “slightly increased”.
This new research is not classed as “official NHS guidance” as it was done by a government-funded monitoring board.
Separate NHS guidance, which claims there is a benefit to marriage between cousins, has faced scrutiny from critics who are urging healthcare bosses to investigate the matter further.
While it is illegal to marry your sibling in the UK, weddings between cousins are still allowed, common in the Pakistani community and other parts of the world, despite attempts to ban the practice.
According to experts, children born to a pair of cousins are three times more likely to have genetic disorders than babies born to unrelated parents.
The document states: “The level of risk is not significantly increased since 90 per cent of children born to consanguineous families will not be affected by a genetic condition.”
Richard Holden, Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, is campaigning to ban cousin marriage, having launched a Private Members Bill calling for a ban in December 2024.
“Our NHS should stop taking the knee to damaging and oppressive cultural practices. This guidance turns basic public health into public harm”, he said.
“First cousin marriage carries far higher genetic risk, as well as damaging individual liberty and societal cohesion.
“Pretending otherwise helps no one, least of all the children born with avoidable conditions and those trapped in heavy-handed patriarchal power structures they can’t leave for fear of total ostracism.”
Controversially, the Labour Government recently announced NHS England is changing and increasing care for “couples at increased genetic risk due to close relative marriage”.
Zubir Ahmed, health minister, told parliament in December: “NHS England is funding additional capacity in several professions, including midwifery, genomics associates and neonatal nurses, in nine pilot sites through the Genetic Risk Equity Project.”
The National Child Mortality Database said: “The purpose of the National Child Mortality Database is to collect data on deaths and share our findings to improve and save children’s lives.
“We do not instruct the NHS or its staff on practice, except where we either make recommendations for professionals to help reduce mortality in children, or inform those professionals who have a statutory responsibility to review child deaths of how best to submit information to our database.”
