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Helen,
You said, "They are not doing it because they want to, they are doing it because they have been raised that doing that is their way of life."
That is what EVERYBODY does. We are all enculturated into our society's way of life. These kids are no more "brainwashed" by their culture than our kids are.
How many middle class white kids end up pregnant because our culture tells them that being sexual is great, and that teenagers are supposed to be sexually active? How many black teenagers end up pregnant because urban black culture values parenthood and sees it as the most important passage into adulthood? How many Hispanic teenagers end up pregnant at 15 or 16 because they live in a hypersexualized media culture? (It must be a lot, because in my mostly Hispanic neighborhood, people kept asking me if I was Aaron's grandmother. And I was only 35!!)
There may be some FLDS girls who want to leave, and I agree, they should be free to leave. But there are others who believe that living the Principle is the path to salvation. And as long as those girls are over the age of consent in the state of Texas, what they believe is none of our business.
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