My love life has gotten very complicated recently. Simply put, I am in love with my cousin! Her mother and my mother are half-sisters (with different fathers, but the same mother). My cousin and I are planning to get married, but want to know what are the chances of our child having birth defects. This is very important to both of us, so please let us know whatever might help!

-- Cousinly Love

Although there has recently been a bit of controversy about just how risky it is for cousins to have kids, it is clear that your chances of passing on certain hereditary traits are greatly increased. There are a good number of diseases that are carried via recessive genes, which is your main worry. If both partners are carriers of the same recessive gene, they can pass it on to their child. And the more closely the parents are related, the more likely this is to occur.

Your situation isn't as bad as it might be, because your mothers were half-sisters and not full sisters. You're really half-cousins. Nonetheless, if a disease or hereditary condition is carried on your mother's side, you could be greatly increasing your risk.

I strongly advise you to see a genetic counselor. These people are professionals who are specially trained to help assess the chance of producing a child with various hereditary traits. In the end, the decision whether to have children or not rests with you, but you owe it to yourselves to really discover the true risks. Good luck!

-DocXXX

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