This post is not going to contain my feelings on consang, or tell you what yours should be, but can we PLEASE stop using the "and there's a higher level of disability and defect among babies of consang couples" as a "reason they should continue to be illegal and/or socially outcast.
That's just plain ableism. "Because their baby could be disabled" is horrible reasoning. Think of every other couple you are effecting when you say that. Think of every person born disabled who hears you say that. I hear that, and I hear ableism.
No argument based on who can and cannot be in love should be built upon the idea that they certainly will reproduce and focus on that instead of their actual relationship- and especially no arguments should be built on the idea that their baby should never exist because of the /chance/ it could be disabled.
Use other arguments.
I'm tired of seeing people in the tags and replies of posts explain themselves by acting as if disabled children being born is as bad as rape.
Even if the rate was 100%, that would be absolutely not an argument against them. Even if the rate was 100%, those children shouldn't be legally barred from being born, nor should they be shamed for their parents their whole lives.
Older couples having children increases the rate of disability, but it would be incredibly ableist to say older people should be barred from reproducing out of fear they'd have a disabled child. Disabled people have a chance of passing on any genetic disability, but barring us from reproducing would be ableism (and eugenics, which, actually, all of these kinds of arguments are.)
Talk about abuse if you're going to talk about abuse. Disabled children being born is not abuse. You never have to bring that up. You just don't.
[Don't use this post to argue to me for or against consang. This is not the post for that, nor will i engage you in that discussion anywhere on this blog. This is just because I see it far too often and people are yet to unlearn the ableism in this statement. Thank you. Make you own post if you want to discuss why you are or are not for consang.]
