Sect girls’ pregnancies are tallied
More than half the teenage girls taken from a polygamist compound in western Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said in San Antonio. A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a recent raid at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those, 31 have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar.
State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, alleging an unsafe environment in which teen girls were forced into underage “spiritual” marriages and sex with older men.
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