Texas has made a big deal of the fact that some of the mothers at the YFZ Ranch have been “underage”. In fact, most of those originally pegged as such have affirmatively proved that they are adults. But whatever. What CPS doesn’t mention is that underage pregnancy is more the norm in Texas than in any other U.S. state.
The issue doesn’t seem to be so much that the girls from YFZ ranch are underage and pregnant, but that they’re underage, pregnant and MARRIED. Let’s look at some stats about morally uprighttight Texas:
- Texas leads the nation in teen pregnancy, according to the Dallas Morning News, which also notes that of teens pregnant in Texas in 2004, 24 percent (1st in the nation) were repeat mommies.
- Between 1991 and 2004, there were more than 745,000 teen births in Texas.
- For every 1000 Texan girls aged 15-17, 36 get pregnant each year. Only New Mexico and Washington, D.C. beat this Texas demographic to the Ob-Gyn. The U.S. average is 21. (Annie E. Casey Foundation, updated May 2008.)
- Texas is 7th in the nation for primary and secondary syphilis. (CDC “STD Surveillance 2006″)
- Texas ranks 4th nationally for congenital syphilis. (CDC)
- Texas is 4th for AIDS. (CDC 2007 State Profile-Texas)
All this and Texas is worried about a few conservative religious folks getting married before they’re 18?
Isn’t it a little screwy to prosecute the FLDS for “underage” marriages, some apparently unconsummated, when so many “normal” Texas girls — the ones outside the YFZ Ranch — are getting pregnant? Shouldn’t CPS investigate their parents for child neglect? Under Texas Family Code §261.001(4) any teen pregnancy seems more than grounds for CPS to pursue a case.
It’s not sex that bothers Texas. It’s polygamous marriage. Texas needs to come clean. It’s not about the children. It’s about polygamy and always has been.
“Guys, the real enemy here, is the institution of marriage, it unrealistic, it’s crazy!”
– Jeremy Grey, “Wedding Crashers”
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Joey 08.27.08 at 10:08 pm
Let’s not forget Texas’ growing (out of control?) problem with teenage prostitution, starting in some cases earlier than 13. But instead of CPS raiding the girl’s neighborhood looking for evidence of Fathers pimping daughters, they throw the 13 year old and her friend in jail.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/252134/13_Year_Old_Arrested_for_Pimping_in_Dallas
kbp 08.27.08 at 11:42 pm
That logic will not get you far with a few recent people participating in the comments here!
CC0508 08.28.08 at 8:25 am
i am laughing enthusiastically at this one.
THE POINT IS THEY ARE UNDERAGE AND PREGNANT WITH GROWN MEN’S CHILDREN.
again, i will note that it is against the law for a grown man to have sex with a child. if all of you want to change that so that FLDS men can have sex with their child brides, you are barking up the wrong tree by blaming CPS.
Johannes Steiner 08.28.08 at 8:57 am
“i” as opposed to “I”, am not laughing enthusiastically. I suppose you actually think that the process of getting a girl pregnant is actually different when it’s a grown man, as opposed to a younger guy.
Once again, very few of the marriages in the FLDS case are in fact demonstrated to be consummated. The girls at YFZ are NOT pregnant with older men’s babies. You just assume that they are.
CC0508 08.28.08 at 9:02 am
i don’t capitalize. i hope that doesn’t offend you too much.
i didn’t assume they were pregnant, mr. kurt did in this post. i responded to it.
the difference between an underage girl getting pregnant with another underage child’s baby is that it is not statutory rape. i will say again IT IS ILLEGAL FOR A GROWN MAN TO HAVE SEX WITH A CHILD.
if you don’t like it, you are barking up the wrong tree by blaming CPS.
CC0508 08.28.08 at 9:04 am
p.s. very few is not equal to none.
Joey 08.28.08 at 9:41 am
CC, if it’s illegal, and you know about it report it to the proper authorities, then let LE respond. It’s not CPS’ place to deal with crimes.
Johannes Steiner 08.28.08 at 10:11 am
“Mr. Kurt” didn’t write this post, as you assume, I did. Kurt hasn’t even commented on it, so it really wouldn’t be fair to blame him for assuming the girls are pregnant.
CPS is not a police force. Statutory rape is a police matter, not a Department of Family Services one.
“very few is not equal to none.” That still doesn’t justify removing all of the children from the compound! At the VERY most, it justifies removing the pregnant ones, IF THEN.
kbp 08.28.08 at 10:46 am
There is no question left open on whether or not it was justified to take custody of ANY children.
As for “removing all of the children from the compound”, that matter has not been challenged, yet.
It was rather senseless to challenge the 14 day hearing, if walther would have even heard the motions filed on it.
We’ll read of it in the civil complaint.
Hugh McBryde 08.28.08 at 11:33 am
Let’s not forget what the real rule governing the behavior of a Government institution quickly becomes after it’s creation. It is enforcing conformity with the state.
Get mouthy, and the Tax Man used to come after you, and still does.
Get out of line and the CPS shows up. They’re just part of the greater power of the state to punish those who don’t behave as the state wishes them to behave.
The FLDS practice Polygyny while the state maintains the practice is illegal. The fact that they can get away with it strongly suggests the state lies about Polygyny being illegal, and they in fact, do.
FORMAL Polygyny is illegal, informal Polygyny among persons of consenting age is not. Since the state of Texas and all other states don’t like having their snouts shoved in their misrepresentations to the public at large, they then move on other fronts to persecute the group that is not flouting the law, but in fact only flouting the state’s interpretation of that law.
A bunch of people claiming to believe the Bible living in polygynous relationships doesn’t sit well with other Bible Believing voters in Texas, so the politicians pander to them, make laws to entrap them, and send the enormous power of the state via it’s least regulated arm, the CPS, to tear them apart for the audacity of suggesting that the State lies to it’s constituents.
CurioiusTexan 08.28.08 at 11:53 am
From the Strayhorn Report
While in CPS custody in 2004, 63 were treated for rape including four-year old twin boys, and 142 children gave birth.
Were all the father’s of those babies minors? Anyone have those stats?
April 38 08.28.08 at 2:47 pm
CC0508, otherwise known as “i”, one who does not capitalize:
( I guess that means you are properly addressed as cco508?)
So we don’t care about the reality of rampant, demonstrable illegitimacy, the majority of which births have to be, just given the usual age relationships between males and females, the offspring of guys who are legally adult, and therefore committing statutory rape — but we do care about unconsummated marriages, as shown by inexcusably invasive phsyical examinations, of girls just POTENTIALLY having relations with older men? Wow. We’d better put every girl in the country under house arrest, or in CPS custody, because that potential exists universally. It just might happen, you never know…
“One is not equal to none.” No, but it’s darned close. In an election poll, they call that “statistically insignificant.” More than that, I understand they throw out scores of absentee ballots as just not worth the bother.
But at CPS, one that even MIGHT exist is enough to bring in tanks and automatic weapons. Go figure.
Kurt’s right. It was never about underage girls having relations with older men. It was always about finding cover for religious persecution.
And no, I’m not FLDS, never have been. Just anti-persecution.
Chris 08.28.08 at 4:14 pm
CC,
To begin with who ever said they had martial relations. Two if there pregnant with an underage kid is it any less illegal than and adults? Three to say “if all of you want to change that so that FLDS men can have sex with their child brides” is number one a perverted thing to say, number two it was never the problem, the problem was the CPS’s nose was to big and they were butting in were they weren’t needed.
Bob 08.28.08 at 6:11 pm
CCo508: Let me ask again. What religion are you?
R 08.28.08 at 6:13 pm
Bob: I think CCo5o8 has bailed since Kurt exposed her(?) lies about not working for the government. I could be wrong, though.
CurioiusTexan 08.31.08 at 2:41 pm
again, i will note that it is against the law for a grown man to have sex with a child. if all of you want to change that so that FLDS men can have sex with their child brides, you are barking up the wrong tree by blaming CPS.
The question I have of those who create the laws…
Is the primary issue that they don’t want men having sex with minors, or they don’t want minors having children?
If there was no SEX and the man was simply the sperm donor, for a young woman who was ready for motherhood, are there laws against that? Clearly, it’s not illegal for minors to conceive.
It is my understanding that they don’t participate in SEX for pleasure, only for procreation. If that is indeed the case, then how do they violate the law, which states,
(2) “Sexual contact” means, except as provided by
Section 21.11, any touching of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of another person with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.
CurioiusTexan 08.31.08 at 2:46 pm
Adding to Kurt’s post, Texas stats:
• 1 out of 35 teenage girls (ages 13 – 17) gets pregnant.
• 1 out of 42 teenage girls (ages 13 – 17) gives birth.
• Every 8 hours a 14-year-old girl gets pregnant.
• Every 3 hours a 15-year-old girl gets pregnant.
• Every 1.2 hours a 16-year-old girl gets pregnant.
• Every 45 minutes a 17-year-old girl gets pregnant.
-Texas Vital Statistics 2002
Every 10 minutes a teen gives birth.
Every 48 minutes a teen has an abortion.
Further, 45%, that almost half, of births in the US are to UNMARRIED women.
Half the kiddos in this country have no daddy, no family.
Are the FLDS really doing it so wrong? They take care of the kids and see to it that their needs are met.
Amurica might not have the domestic problems it has now if polygamy was legal. We may not have so many kids YEARNING FOR PARENTS.