31 teen girls at ranch are pregnant or had baby
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - April 28, 2008 A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state
custody after a raid 3½ 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.
