Posted on 04/28/2008 5:27:59 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
31 of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch are pregnant or had baby
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago
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 are pregnant now, CPS officials have said in court; 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.
State officials said earlier that they had found girls who were pregnant or had children of their own at the ranch, but they had not provided more than rough estimates until Monday.
Church officials have denied that any children were abused at the ranch and say the state's actions are a form of religious persecution.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Just a guess of course but... If they took a survey within an area in a half mile radius of my house they would find a lot more early teen mothers and/or pregnant teens than the found in the compound. No one seems interested since it is a cultural thing. Having a fifteen year old “old maid” is a family crisis in some circles. CPS won’t touch that.
It is much worse than that in a nearby gambling town.
All of them would be nice.
They have not yet sent me all their addresses.
LOL! You really are too funny :)
How do these statistics differ from some of the Democrat-stronghold inner cities?
Probably very different when compared as to whether it was a voluntary act or was the girl forced into by some older person as a spiritual bride.
Funny, when I was 25 I was an adult. Hell, I was considered an adult when I was 18. When I was 16, I was considered almost an adult, lol, certainly not a child. Seems we’re regressing.
Pimp daddies do not count.
...of .357 caliber lead!
No need to be harsh. I live in SF. I counseled at a crisis pregnancy center for over three years. Most teens/young women, by their own claims, were pregnant by boyfriends at the same or near to their age.
We were required by law to report anything different. In the three years I worked there, we reported two.
Do you live on a ranch with hundreds of others?
If you can’t see the difference between an “urban” teen getting pregnant by another teen and a situation where you have systemic abuse by middle-aged adult men, then you need help.
That sounds about right — maybe a .44, but I prefer the .357 myself.
“>>”Except that inner city females don’t all live on one ranch do they.”<<
No, they’re pretty much confined to the “projects”. The rate of pregnancy for young black females is astronomical. Where is the concern for them?
Hey if you know of an inner city teenager being impregnated by an adult male report it.
And I also don’t believe that inner city teenagers popping out babies do so because if they don’t and by marrying a 50 year old man their church pastor condemns them to hell.
Yes, and compare what the title says compared to the “two of those are pregnant now” the title makes one think there are 31 pregnant now. Earlier articles said the CPS workers found over 25 pregnant teens- which was the catalyst for taking all the children. I am confused!!
If the child abuse (sexual and other) is true then folks need to be going to jail- but what is coming out now is not matching what came out earlier. hmmmm. I hope this is just the media making mistakes and not authorities being heavy handed when there might have been other/better ways to handle this mess.
The same almost word-for-word question sprang to my mind when I saw the headline.
That is why they are DNA testing the youth. A gynocologist can tell by exam whether a woman has given birth.
**If the US had kept the Mexico it conquered in 1848, I wonder if 13 would be considered age of consent as it is there today?**
We had some illegals killed in a car wreck near here last year. the wife was 14, the HUSBAND was 13.
That's the question that came to my mind on seeing the headline. The farm subsidies seems to be left over from a previous comment on another thread.
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