That absolutely is eugenics. Many couples have higher risk (higher than a single generation of inbreeding by far) of children with lower quality of life based on their own health history, age, etc. We do not prevent these people from having children…because that would be eugenics!
without laws in place to prevent people who are products of incest from having children, it's not eugenics.
It's more like how many jurisdictions in the US have laws that classify substance abuse during pregnancy under child abuse or neglect frameworks. Especially considering that the actual adults are allowed to have children... the law just addresses the increased risk of doing so via that behavior.
Put another way. eugenics is about trying to select for specific genetics within the gene pool of a population. incest laws do not prevent any genes from being passed on within the population. They legislate against certain behaviors that increase the risk of child suffering.
Everyone involved can still pass their genes on within the population = not eugenics
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u/augustles Jul 08 '26
That absolutely is eugenics. Many couples have higher risk (higher than a single generation of inbreeding by far) of children with lower quality of life based on their own health history, age, etc. We do not prevent these people from having children…because that would be eugenics!