Why blood tests?

[QPR]

Does anyone know why you have to have a blood test to get married in the usa?
Why do they need these tests???
Been bugging me since I heard it in a few films and plays recently!

[gary baldy]

I take it you havent seen the movie Deliverance?
(Its on TCM as we speak if you havent-
thats presuming you get TCM!!!)

[QPR]

No I haven't and don't get TCM!!! Could you explain please?

[Drusilla]

It's to stop genetic defects occuring, I believe. By the way gary baldy, I'm not intentionally following you around this site, honest.

[QPR]

Thanks very much!!

[gary baldy]

Deliverance is set in the back end of America and there are lots of inter bred people in it with big foreheads and eyes too far apart! If you ever see it (you really should its a great film) you'll see what i mean.
Although there are 160 million people in america in some remote areas they dont seem to be bothered about the fact that brothers and sisters shouldnt really have babies with each other!
Where you going next drusilla?

[Clanad]

Only 6 States and the District of Columbia still have a blood test requirement for a marriage liscense. Sorry, gary baldy, but the test was and still is required to indicate that both partners are free of venereal disease and (in some States) rubella. No blood tests, short of DNA testing would indicate relationship. Don't forget to mention that the "inbred" boy in Deliverance was also one heck of a banjo player... (By the way, in real life he is a restaurant owner in Clayton, Georgia)

[Ouisch]

Syphyllis and gonnorhea often incubated in the body for years without any symptoms, and a lot of WWII veterans were unknowingly carrying it and passing it on to their partners when they got married. In turn, this created a lot of birth defects, so it became law for a time that a blood test was required in order to get a marriage license to rule out any venereal diseases. Very few states require it any longer, although most do require AIDS counseling in order to get married.