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FDLS

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babies having babies

Over Half Of Female FLDS Teens In Texas Custody Have Been Pregnant

Here we are, worried about the sexualization of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, when 31 out of 53 girls from the ages of 14-17 from the Yearning For Zion ranch are pregnant or already have children. Although the polygamist Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints have been claiming that they do not marry off 13 and 14 year old girls to older men, the number of very young yet pregnant girls seems to refute these claims. What's more, there are 53 girls ages 14-17 who were taken from the ranch, while only 17 boys in that age group were living with the sect. (The gender divisions in children under 14 were about 50/50.) This gives credence to the tales of "lost boys" of the FDLS: adolescent males who were exiled from the sect to keep the gender imbalance favorable for polygamous unions. More »

9:30 AM on Tue Apr 29 2008
By Jessica
11,194 views, 209 comments

Latest by bria: @angrycandy: I don't really understand your post. When the police are notified that girls under the age of consent are pregnant by older men, they investigate etc. When the police aren't notified, there's no way for them to know. The government isn't more »

babies having babies

Texas Officials Keep Teen Moms From Polygamist Sect In State Custody

The number of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints in Texas custody has now reached 460, following the state's decision yesterday that 25 mothers under the age of 18 should not be returned to the FDLS compound, Yearning For Zion. As previously reported, Texas officials raided the YFZ ranch after a tip — allegedly from a 16-year-old inside the compound named Sarah Jessop Barlow — regarding widespread child abuse. Although Sarah has yet to be located (and some believe that "Sarah" is really Rozita Swinton, a pathological liar with an FDLS obsession), Reuters reports that "Texas welfare and law enforcement officials say they have uncovered evidence of widespread child abuse on the grounds, with adolescent girls being forced into unions with much older men." Mothers over the age of 18 were sent home yesterday from the temporary shelter where their children are being held. More »

9:30 AM on Fri Apr 25 2008
By Jessica
6,085 views, 127 comments

Latest by bria: @♥ dosido ☮: Do they know how to use phones? Do they know that people would help them? Do they know what's being done is wrong? They did use the welfare system, but I'm curious how- mail? phones? Do you really more »

clips

Polygamists Avoid Giving Answers On Today

A group of representatives from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints went on Today this morning to answer some of Meredith Vieira's questions about polygamy, child abuse, and poofy hairstyles, except they didn't actually give many answers, evading Vieira's queries with skill of a veteran politician. When asked if they think having sex with a 13-year-old girl is child abuse, one of the men answered, "I would never do such a thing," effectively skirting the question. (FDLS leader, Warren Jeffs, was jailed for coercing a 14-year-old to marry her 19-year-old cousin.) The saddest part, though, was the total lack of affect in the womens' faces when they talked about their children being taken away. "We know they are in desperate need of their mothers. Right now," one of the wives said, her face utterly void of emotion. Clip above.

12:30 PM on Mon Apr 21 2008
By Jessica
6,412 views, 143 comments

Latest by n/a: I came to this site after reading Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall, who was the rape victim in Warren Jeff's trial. (Get it at Costco for only $14.00) Very illuminating, as well as heartbreaking. I keep thinking of John Lennon's more »

big love

Despite Doubters, Texas Will Keep Polygamist Children In State Custody

Texas judge Barbara Walther ruled on Friday that the 416 children who were taken from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints' polygamist enclave, the Yearning For Zion Ranch, be kept in state custody. This legal decision has not been made without opposition, not just from the FLDS brass, but also from the ACLU and conservative journalists, who believe the state of Texas invaded the YFZ ranch on a false tip. In a written statement, ACLU Texas executive director Terri Burke said, "As this situation continues to unfold, we are concerned that the constitutional rights that all Americans rely upon and cherish — that we are secure in our homes, that we may worship as we please and hold our places of worship sacred, and that we may be with our children absent evidence of imminent danger — have been threatened." More »

9:30 AM on Mon Apr 21 2008
By Jessica
6,172 views, 142 comments

Latest by n/a: I wat to be respectful of the diversity of opinions, but I can't take the sympathy for these women anymore. Yes, I understand that these women have been inculcated in this culture all of their lives. Yes, I understand that these women have more »