Draft bill to ban cousin marriages would unnecessarily curb fundamental freedoms and stigmatise, says Doncaster Muslims

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Doncaster has spoken out against the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill proposed by Richard Holden MP that is due for Second Reading on 17 January 2025 calling it unnecessary and damaging.
The bill seeks to ban first-cousin marriages on the basis of the 2013 Born in Bradford study, despite the study finding that the absolute risk was “small” and no greater than the health risk from a woman over 34 years old having a child. The study (as reported in The Lancet, Volume 382, Issue 9901) also stated that “…the vast majority of babies born to couples who are blood relatives are absolutely fine”.
Islam, like various other major religions, permits marriage amongst cousins and in a democracy, where religious freedom and autonomy are prized and valued, it is an overreach and unnecessary interference in the freedom of choice of the individual and autonomy to ban cousin marriages.