# If ignorance were cornflakes...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ignorance-were-cornflakes/487567>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 26, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ignorance-were-cornflakes/487567 "2009-02-26T21:41:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-ignorance-were-cornflakes/487567/8 "2009-02-28T00:32:56Z")

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> [@Wiltshire](#):
>
> Why, drench me in milk and call me Cap’n Crunch. Cecil is wrong. When a Rhesus-negative mother has a child from a Rhesus-positive father, she may develop antibodies against her baby’s blood type. So, she _does_ retain traces in her blood, caused by the first father’s genetic information about his immune system inherited by the baby. This acquired incompatibility against the previous father’s antigen type can be potentially dangerous in subsequent pregnancies.

Nope – still doesn’t count. The question wasn’t, “Does pregnancy have any permanent effect on a woman’s body?” Of course it does. But those Rh antibodies[ul]  
[li]come from the woman, herself, and[/li][li]have no _genetic_ effect on subsequent children.[/li][/ul]

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