By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO -
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Dee1962 |
Teenage Pregnancy & the FLDS Ranch |
Lead | ||
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31 of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch are pregnant or had baby
By MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO -
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Dee1962 |
#1 | |||
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31 of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch are pregnant or had baby
By MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO - More than half the teen girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said Monday. A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. Two of those are pregnant now, he said; it was unclear whether either of those two already have children. "It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," he said. State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, saying a pattern of teen girls forced into underage "spiritual" marriages and sex with much older men created an unsafe environment for the sect's children. Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16, but none of these girls is believed to have a legal marriage under state law. A call seeking comment from FLDS spokesman Rod Parker was not immediately returned. Church officials have denied that any children were abused at the ranch and say the state's actions are a form of religious persecution. Civil-liberties groups and lawyers for the children have criticized the state for sweeping all the children, from nursing infants to teen boys, into foster care when only teen girls are alleged to have been sexually abused. No one has been charged since the raid, which was prompted by a series of calls to a domestic abuse hotline, purportedly from a 16-year-old forced into a marriage recognized only by the sect with a man three times her age. That girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the call was a hoax. On Monday, CPS also revised its total count of children in state custody to 463, up one from Friday. Azar said the change resulted from finally getting the children out of the San Angelo Coliseum and into foster facilities around the state, where they were able to get a more accurate count. Of those 463 children, 250 are girls and 213 are boys. The sect, which broke from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints more than a century ago, believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven. Its leader, Warren Jeffs, is revered as a prophet. Jeffs was convicted last year in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl into marriage with an older cousin.
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brownbabe |
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that is just crazy!
Friendship is Love without his wings. |
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Dee1962 |
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It is truly a sad situation. I can't imagine the culture shock some of these children might experience. They haven't been exposed to TV, radio,
computers, etc.
They have to keep them isolated and try to get them into foster care without other children from what I have heard.
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3xBlessd |
#4 | |||
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It's really a sad situation. These poor kids don't know any differently because this is how they were raised and taught.
Reports are now surfacing that the boys in the sect were also sexually abused and many of the children have had broken bones suggesting physical abuse...
Spring has sprung! See what's
cookin' @
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Dee1962 |
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I honestly can't begin to fathom any kind of group/religion/sect, that would encourage abuse (sexual, physical or otherwise) of any child. People wonder
why there are so many disenchanted people walking around.
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Loveable Bitch |
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It makes me wonder about religion and the way it makes people believe whatever they want to believe is right. I know this is not an organised religion but it
shows how easy it is for a religion to turn into a sect.
"Only one way to heaven but half a million ways to fall." |
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Dee1962 |
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I have friends who have turned away from the church, either due to remarks made to them or to actual physical/sexual abuse. It is sad to see how much
psychological damage (not just physical) that this kind of stuff can cause. Also, they have turned away from something that at one time, was a great source of
comfort.
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Beth2729 |
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This is not a organized church. It is a "breakup" of the Mormon church. I am a LDS MORMON. This type of stuff is against the church and law. Its sad!
It is also sad to hear these women ~ they seem zombie like and when they say "they need the kids back" that is so cold!
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3xBlessd |
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I really dislike when "sects" are formed and they use the name of a legitimate religion to promote it. They just go too far and then the real LDS
church suffers for it.
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Beth2729 |
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True Debbie!
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