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Old 10-03-2005, 05:41 PM   #3 (permalink)
politicophile
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Incest is a difficult case because the harm is rather diffuse. If you and your sibling have children together, those children have a significantly increased chance of receiving double recessive genes that you got from your parents. In some cases, this can cause your children to have severe genetic diseases.

The problem, as I see it, is that harm is only being done in an incestuous relationship that bears children. It is entirely understandable that the state would have a vested interest in preventing close familial relatives from reproducing together. It is far more difficult to prove that harm is being caused by protected sex between a brother and sister, morally disgusting though it may be. For that matter, what harm is caused by two brothers having sex with each other?
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