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 ...
I decided to quit high school and my father said fine, but if I was grown up enough to quit school, I needed to move out, get a job and support myself. So I moved to town and got a job waiting tables in a restaurant in the evenings and cleaning motel rooms in the mornings. I did decide later that I needed an education and got my GED and went to college. I totally understood why my father said what he did, he was 100% right but today that would probably be considered child neglect.
It has been posted here a million times that there were two warrants- I have no idea if there were or weren’t or if they needed them or not but it has nothing to do with how many pregnant teens there were the day officials went into the ranch and how many authorities say there are now.
BTTT
You said DNA will determine age- source for that? Do you have a source that MDs can verify age- from what I have seen MDs can only tell an age range- not a definate age.
You said DNA will determine age- source for that? Do you have a source that MDs can verify age- from what I have seen MDs can only tell an age range- not a definate age.
How many pregnant teens were seen by authorities the day they went into the ranch? How many pregnant (pregnant right now) teens are in protective custody today?
Well, in case you didn’t notice, the FLDS didn’t seem to separate the children from the teenage mothers, since the teenage mothers were minors and therefore would go into foster care just like their children. In a similar inner-city case, both the teen mom and her baby and any other siblings that might be ‘at risk’ would go into foster care. I’ve known people who’ve had mama and baby as foster siblings simultaneously... it doesn’t never happen, it just doesn’t get reported as much, and it isn’t so high-profile.
Until the authorities find documentation, it’s going to be unclear about names and ages, since the children and teenagers were told to lie.
Where does it say that the pregnant girls broke the law? Since 16-year-olds with parental consent and 18-year-olds without same can legally get married in Texas, why aren’t the husbands around to defend their supposedly legal unions? Either the girls were underage and statuory rape was taking place, they didn’t have parental permission or too many girls/women have the same husband, all illegal situations.
I don’t see how the authorities were supposed to just walk away from what they knew of the sect from previous members and from what they had to accept as a possible call for help. The mothers don’t protect their children from the pedophiles in their community, so who is going to, if not those outside of the community? Yes, we do have to be careful, but not to the point of turning a blind eye when the vulnerable are being preyed upon in the name of religion.
Yes, as referenced in an earlier post, we are required by law to report any pregnant teen who claims the father is 7 or more years older than her. (I believe the age ratio varies from state to state). If you work at a clinic, as a hotline counselor (suicide, rape, what have you), if you are a medical professional - you are required to report, or YOU have broken a law. You can lose your license if you don’t report!
So there are laws to protect these teen girls, most of whom are actually impregnated by young men near their age. I think there is a great deal of concern for them. What makes you say differently?
Thank you for the post, I like to see the various MSM accounts of this mess. Maybe I’m getting tired and did not read enough but (having said that) did not see anything there about welfare fraud.
I don’t hate Mormons. I don’t think that’s a fair description of most of the posters here at FR.
It is becoming a bit much isn’t it. I’m just sick and tired of all the defenders.
I was living with my soon-to-be husband at 16, too.
I think the main issues here are that these young women (12, 14, 16, etc.) are married off to men old enough to be their fathers/grandfathers -
married off to men who they are often related to -
threatened with eternal damnation if they refuse to comply -
and that the men of this compound seem to be engineering all this so they can enjoy a harem of young women.
Often referenced is the fact that most of the boy children from these celestial marriages are kicked out.
Also, the welfare dependency.
No one that I know of is bothered if a girl of 16 decides to marry her 19 year old boyfriend. That’s not what’s happening down on the farm.
I lived on my own from age 15, and was more mature than many people in their 20s. So I agree with you on that point.
They should start with the LDS.
Yes, those are all issues, I know that. If true this bunch needs to be nailed- and taken apart to the point they can’t get back together to do this all over like they have after the other raids. I just don’t trust the media to give us the truth, and in part of this either the media or authorities have not been straight. This needs to be done by the book or it won’t hold up. I have no idea what is going on really, and I doubt anyone else posting knows either. There is a lot to discuss here, if everyone would just be polite and allow discussion without all the name calling, etc. I think it was the first day this hit the news, I called for those old men to be castrated if it is proven they were having sex with the children- anyone can search my posts back and find that and other things I said- but still I have been accused of everything under the sun for daring to have questions. Many here do not actually read what people post- they just attack, making me wonder what their agenda is in all this.
In re: trusting the media, I understand the skepticism. What I find far more convincing is the public testimony of many ex-FLDSers, made before this raid. I don’t think they are all lying, and some of the stories they have to tell are extremely criminal in nature. That’s why I tend to believe that the kids should have been removed.
I’m not on the side of taking the little ones from the women, though. They aren’t in any immediate danger with the adult women, not for as long as it takes to establish maternity, in my opinion.
Is that the state of Texas’ business? It sounds like our local high school and nobody is taking those girls out of their homes!
Sorry but I just don’t believe everything that Texas is saying about this. Remember Waco and the Feds?
Possible exception being a married 18- or 19- year old, in days of yesteryear when a man age 21 or so doing union work, could actually support a family.
Not that I am pro-union, either.
Cheers!
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