'First cousin marriages will work if they are happy
to marry each other'
A proposal to ban first cousin marriages has been raised
in Parliament. But, as Hannah Ahmed discovers, not
everyone is so supportive of the bill...
Zara saw her cousin for the first time after 13 years a week before her wedding day.
Their wedding day.
The marriage was part of a family agreement which saw two siblings marry their cousins. It was a decision which changed Zara's life forever.
Was this the life she had dreamed of? No.
The then-23-year old had hopes of finding love at university in England. Instead, she was "imprisoned" in a marriage within her family.
“I was trapped. I was in prison," said Zara.
Worse, Zara was forced to move 6,000 miles away to Pakistan, leaving her life in Manchester behind to marry a cousin she barely knew.
“Our family just wanted to control me," said the qualified chemist.
She couldn’t work. Couldn’t have her own money. And couldn’t leave her new house without her husband’s permission.
“I felt obligated to carry out my parents’ wishes," she said. "I never had a choice."
At the end of last year, MP Richard Holden began a campaign to prohibit first cousin marriages in Britain. Among the reasons is the increased risk of genetic disorders among offspring - and the knock-on impact on the health service.
But opponents to the bill claim it will harm communities around the country.
So should marriages between first cousins be banned?
Zara isn’t so sure.
Despite her own hellish experiences, the married mother-of-three recognises the reasoning behind many Pakistani families engaging in the tradition.
“Cousin marriages will work out if cousins are happy to marry each other," said Zara, who wished to remain anonymous.
“I think it’s targeting a particular group of people. Sometimes cousins want to get married, they like each other. There shouldn’t be a law prohibiting this.”
The most recent data revealed 43% of British Pakistani couples in Bradford were related – a figure which has fallen almost 20% between 2016 and 2020, according to the NHS 'Born in Bradford’ study.
The 2023 study also revealed the risk of genetic disorder in children born to first cousin parents compared to unrelated parents doubled from 3% to 6%.
Image: Tim Green licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Image: Tim Green licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Should first-cousin marriage be banned in the U.K.?
— Hannah Ahmed (@Hannahhahmedd) January 27, 2025
#parliament#gov #government #bill #firstcousin #marriage #firstcousinmarriage #law #law #bill #journo #news
However, fourth-generation child of cousin marriage, Mahedah Rehma, does not believe her family has been impacted genetically by their marital choices.
“I can’t be 100% sure, but I would say consanguineous marriage has not affected the genetic health of my family," said the biomedical PHD student.
“For example, my grandad passed away at 80 – so he had lived a very good, very long life."
But life as the child and grandchild of cousins has not always been easy for Mahedah.
Growing up in London, she was taunted and teased over her familial situation.
"I was told I was a child of incest," the 29-year-old said.
“I think it did chip away at my self-esteem to the extent where one of the main reasons I couldn’t make friends was because my parents were cousins."
Mahedah did not marry her cousin, revolting against tradition, yet the student has no qualms against her children partaking in the cultural practice.
But what are the genetic risks involved in marrying a cousin?
Dr Melita Irving, who has been involved in the field of genetics for more than 25 years, admitted there was a risk of genetic disorders within children born from related parents. However, she said the majority of children with first cousin parents she worked with did not have genetic disorders.
She said: “We're able to offer screening and tests to families who are at the highest risk because there's already an existing family history of something.
"But just out of the blue, when couples have children in a first cousin relationship where there's no family history, there doesn't seem to be anything of a higher risk for them."
And the geneticist was certain in her belief that banning first cousin marriages would only harm communities around Britain.
She said: “If first cousin marriages are ingrained in certain cultures, why would we ban that?
“Why wouldn’t we try instead to facilitate it, rather than try and destroy it?”
Labour MP Holden disagrees with that argument.
In a speech to parliament at the end of last year, Holden was definitive in his campaign to ban first cousin marriages in the UK.
The Basildon and Billericay MP said: “First cousin marriages should be banned on the basis of health risk alone.
“It is clear that this practice is not really conducive to modern British Society.”
Holden based his argument on works from researchers such as Patrick Nash.
In an interview with Nash, he claimed first cousin marriages were responsible for a long list of health and social issues.
The Oxford University Theology, Law and Culture Research Associate said "every major case of election fraud or corruption" and "extremism in local elections" was because of cousin marriages. He also blamed the practice for "organised drug trafficking and distribution".
The researcher's unwavering support for the proposed ban stemmed from a desire to create a healthier nation.
He said: “All of the historical evidence points that way, and we should simply seize the moment, get on with the ban, and work towards that better future.”
But what is the history behind Holden's campaign?
While Nash perceives the ban as a positive, Zara and Mahedah still insist it will only be harmful to many communities across Britain besides the Pakistani community, such as the Traveller community, and even the aristocracy.
Zara never dreamed of marrying her cousin.
But she did, signing up for a life she could not escape.
As a teenager she opened up to her mother:
“I am going to university, supposing I meet someone I fall in love with there?"
“There is no such thing as a love marriage," her mother replied.
“By marrying your cousin, you have your khala (auntie) and your khalo (uncle) there who love you. Think of the bigger picture, the family you are marrying into is this family,”
Zara’s experience still resonates with many families in Britain today – 40 years after her own marriage took place.
And the children of those marriages are the ones who will suffer the most from this ban, Mahedah claims.
She said: “Instead of the ban being helpful in the sense that it’s going to stop people, it’s going to stigmatise it more. For me they told me I was a child of incest, now it’s going to be – ‘you’re a child of illegal incest.'"
So what next?
The proposal of the first cousin marriage ban has left many frustrated, while others rejoiced at the news.
The suggested ban will meet its second reading on March 7 – but until then the debate over first cousin marriages rages on.
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