Latest news with #teenpregnancy
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Sickening family secrets that led to baby being found in Walmart bathroom
Disturbing news details have emerged in the case of a Texas man arrested after his teenage daughter gave birth in a Walmart bathroom. Kingsville Police responded to the store just before 10.30pm on July 14, after receiving a call that a maintenance worker discovered a newborn child in a bathroom trash can while taking out the garbage, KRIS 6 reported. In the aftermath, officers reviewed the store's security camera footage and discovered that a 17-year-old girl had entered the bathroom, where she remained for about 40 minutes, before leaving the store and getting into a car in the parking lot. Police were ultimately able to track down the teenager's car and performed a traffic stop, before taking the girl to the hospital for treatment. The teen's father, Jerry Lee Martinez, 45, was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child after she told investigators he was the father of her baby. She told police that Martinez had begun 'touching her inappropriately' when she was 15 years old and forced her to have sex with him several times over the last two years, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by KIII. The girl said Martinez was the father of the child and when he found out that she was pregnant, he hit her in the stomach on several occasions. She told investigators that he took her to Mexico earlier in the day to have an abortion before she delivered the stillborn in Walmart. Walmart employees tried to perform life saving measures on the infant and authorities rushed the child to the hospital right next door, where doctors pronounced her dead. Police were ultimately able to track down the teenager's car and performed a traffic stop, before taking the girl to the hospital for treatment. The teen girl is not in police custody and was taken to a 'secure location' while her father was arrested. Martinez is also facing charges of abandoning or endangering a child with criminal negligence, tampering with a witness and tampering with physical evidence 'The avenue taken last night wasn't the correct one, wasn't a safe one for the mother or the child,' Celinda Tatum, a Kingsville Police Department accident investigator told KRIS 6. 'We do advise that anytime an incident does occur at any moment, contact police or emergency personnel so that the baby and the mother can get seen medically.' Martinez is being held at the Kleberg County Jail on $600,000 bond, and prosecutors warned at his court appearance on Thursday that he could face additional charges.
CNA
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Commentary: Russia is paying schoolgirls to have babies. Why is pronatalism on the rise around the world?
ABERYSTWYTH, United Kingdom: In some parts of Russia, schoolgirls who become pregnant are being paid more than 100,000 roubles (about US$1,270) for giving birth and raising their babies. This new measure, introduced in the past few months across 10 regions, is part of Russia's new demographic strategy, widening the policy adopted in March which only applied to adult women. It is designed to address the dramatic decline in the country's birthrate. In 2023, the number of births in Russia per woman was 1.41 – substantially below 2.05, which is the level required to maintain a population at its current size. Paying teenage girls to have babies while they are still in school is controversial in Russia. According to a recent survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 43 per cent of Russians approve of the policy, while 40 per cent are opposed to it. But it indicates the high priority that the state places on increasing the number of children being born. Russia's President Vladimir Putin regards a large population as one of the markers of a flourishing great power, along with control over a vast (and growing) territory and a powerful military. Paradoxically, though, his efforts to increase the physical size of Russia by attacking Ukraine and illegally annexing its territory have also been disastrous in terms of shrinking Russia's population. The number of Russian soldiers killed in the war has reached 250,000 by some estimates, while the war sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of some of the most highly educated Russians. Many of them are young men fleeing military service who could have been fathers to the next generation of Russian citizens. But while Russia's demographic situation is extreme, declining birth rates are now a global trend. It is estimated that by 2050 more than three-quarters of the world's countries will have such low fertility rates that they will not be able to sustain their populations. IT'S NOT ONLY RUSSIA Putin is not the only world leader to introduce policies designed to encourage women to have more babies. Viktor Orban's government in Hungary is offering a range of incentives, such as generous tax breaks and subsidised mortgages, to those who have three or more children. Poland makes a monthly payment of 500 złoty (about US$140) per child to families with two or more children. But there's some evidence this has not prompted higher-income Polish women to have more children, as they might have to sacrifice higher earnings and career advancement to have another child. In the United States, Donald Trump is proposing to pay women US$5,000 to have a baby, tied to a wider MAGA movement push, supported by Elon Musk and others, to encourage women to have larger families. Reversing demographic trends is complex, because the reasons that individuals and couples have for becoming parents are also complex. Personal preferences and aspirations, beliefs about their ability to provide for children, as well as societal norms and cultural and religious values all play a part in these decisions. As a result, the impact of 'pronatalist' policies has been mixed. No country has found an easy way to reverse declining birth rates. One country seeking to address population decline with policies, other than encouraging women to have more babies is Spain, which now allows an easier pathway to citizenship for migrants, including those who entered the country illegally. Madrid's embrace of immigrants is being credited for its current economic boom. LOOKING FOR PARTICULAR TYPES OF FAMILIES But governments that adopt pronatalist policies tend to be concerned, not simply with increasing the total number of people living and working in their countries, but with encouraging certain kinds of people to reproduce. In other words, there is often an ideological dimension to these practices. Incentives for pregnancy, childbirth and large families are typically targeted at those whom the state regards as its most desirable citizens. These people may be desirable citizens due to their race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation or some other identity or combination of identities. For instance, the Spanish bid to increase the population by increasing immigration offers mostly Spanish speakers from Catholic countries in Latin America jobs while opportunities to remain in, or move to, the country does appear to be extended to migrants from Africa. Meanwhile, Hungary's incentives to families are only available to heterosexual couples who earn high incomes. The emphasis on increasing the proportion of the most desirable citizens is why the Trump administration sees no contradiction in calling for more babies to be born in the US, while ordering the arrest and deportation of hundreds of alleged illegal migrants, attempting to reverse the constitutional guarantee of US citizenship for anyone born in the country and even attempting to withdraw citizenship from some Americans. MOTHERHOOD MEDALS, "TRAD" WIVES The success or failure of governments and societies that promote pronatalism hinges on their ability to persuade people – and especially women – to embrace parenthood. Along with financial incentives and other tangible rewards for having babies, some states offer praise and recognition for the mothers of large families. Putin's reintroduction of the Stalin-era motherhood medal for women with 10 or more children is one example. Sometimes the recognition comes from society, such as the current American fascination with 'trad wives' – women who become social media influencers by turning their backs on careers in favour of raising large numbers of children and living socially conservative lifestyles. The mirror image of this celebration of motherhood is the implicit or explicit criticism of women who delay childbirth or reject it altogether. Russia's parliament passed a law in 2024 to ban the promotion of childlessness, or 'child-free propaganda'. This legislation joins other measures such as restrictions on abortions in private clinics, together with public condemnation of women who choose to study at university and pursue careers rather than prioritise marriage and child-rearing. The world's most prosperous states would be embracing immigration if pronatalist policies were driven solely by the need to ensure a sufficient workforce to support the economy and society. Instead, these attempts are often bound up with efforts to restrict or dictate the choices that citizens – and especially women – make about their personal lives, and to create a population dominated by the types of the people they favour.
The Independent
24-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
A pregnant teen was sent away to a place that promised to help. Then they took her baby
When Abbi Johnson became pregnant at 16, no one offered her a baby shower. Instead, she got sent away to a maternity home for young, unwed mothers. In her evangelical household in North Carolina, premarital sex wasn't just taboo — it was a sin. The mentality of 'saving yourself' until marriage was the most consistent thread throughout her upbringing, she told The Independent. Her father gave her a purity ring, proudly announcing to others that she had 'promised him her virginity' until she was married. That expectation is a ritual many evangelical girls go through, reinforced by youth pastors who preach modesty and obedience, warning girls not to 'tempt' boys with the way they behave or dress. So when Abbi got pregnant back in 2008, her devout parents, ashamed and desperate to hide the fallout, sent her to the Liberty Godparent Home — a little-known maternity facility on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. There, she was told she would be safe. Supported. Guided. What she didn't know was that she was entering a system that many women now say was built on coercion, control, and a quiet transaction: her baby in exchange for her future. The home for young mothers was a place that, in hindsight, felt eerily reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale — not in costume, but in control. There were locks on the windows and doors. The girls were required to attend church services together, taught to obey without question, and then they were punished when they rebelled. Their pregnancies were treated as moral failures that needed to be atoned for. At the end of their time, a ceremony was held — there was cake, gifts, and family. But this wasn't a celebration of motherhood. It was a goodbye. This is when they handed over their babies — whether they truly wanted to or not. The twisted transaction is the center of Liberty Lost, a powerful new investigative podcast from Wondery, that dropped Monday. Hosted by journalist T.J. Raphael, the six-part series pulls back the curtain on the Godparent Home and the culture of forced adoption inside America 's most powerful evangelical university. Raphael reveals the dystopian reality behind a secretive institution on campus, where pregnant teens have come forward years later to report feeling pressured and coerced into giving up their babies for adoption. At the heart of the story featured in the podcast is Abbi — now in her 30s with a family, living on the opposite coast from the Bible belt – who is determined to tell the truth she says has been buried for nearly two decades, along with the trauma that never left her. After giving birth, Abbi continued her time at Liberty University to fulfill her expected role of a 'normal' college student. But while other teenage girls were 'listening to Taylor Swift and working at Forever 21,' she found it hard to care about any of it. Instead, she was consumed with the loss of the son she had handed over to a 'affluent, married Christian couple' because she was told it was 'God's plan.' 'I was raised to understand that this was the path … I'd been hearing it my whole life, the rhetoric that a baby deserves two loving parents and married households, you know,' Abbi told The Independent. What Abbi experienced stems from a dark history that began with Jerry Falwell Sr, who created these maternity homes in response to Roe v Wade back in the 1980s. But what many do not know is that some of these homes still exist today. 'It's not even about needing that historical context to know this is what's happening,' she said. 'It's what happened to me.' A history hidden in plain sight The Liberty Godparent Home was established in 1982 and sits on Liberty University's sprawling campus, founded by Falwell — a man who helped build the modern Christian Right, advocating for a 'pro-family' agenda focused on issues like abortion, school prayer, and traditional family values. 'One man for woman for one lifetime and no sex — period — outside of marriage,' his voice booms in one of the snippets from the podcast. Falwell died in 2007, but his legacy and his mission lived on. Now, Godparent Home is one of a growing number of faith-based maternity homes that claim to offer support to young pregnant women. But as Raphael discovers, the real message inside the walls was often far more punishing. If these girls complete the Godparent Home's program, they're eligible for a full-ride scholarship to Liberty, Raphael says. Liberty Lost draws from intimate interviews with Abbi and three other women who lived in the Home between 1991 and 2008, weaving together stories of isolation, manipulation, and loss. 'God's plan' Abbi wasn't physically forced to hand over her baby. But after her parents refused to let her return home with the baby, with no financial support — and with the prospect of a full college scholarship dangling in front of her — she felt her options were limited. 'It wasn't what I wanted to do at all,' Abbi told The Independent. 'But it was incredibly confusing. I would ask, 'Why do complete strangers get to have my son, and I have to earn a relationship with him?' I hadn't done anything wrong. But they laid down the law — this was the punishment, and I was expected to live it gracefully.' The adoption was sold to her as 'open,' but when Abbi tried to advocate for more contact, she was denied. Her monitored visits ended. The relationship with her son — already fragile — faded. That loss, she says, ultimately freed her to speak. 'If my son was seeking this information, I wanted it to be there. And when the other women started coming forward, it was like the biggest hug — emotionally, it was validating and gratifying. I wasn't alone.' She posted videos of herself telling her story and began receiving messages from other women who had similar experiences. Some had no support from anyone, others had family support, but the financial burden was too much to do on their own. Abbi's own experience was shaped not only by the staff at the home but by the deeply rooted religious culture she grew up in. Both of her parents admitted to being influenced by their religious culture when making the decision to send their daughter away, and then expressed regret in response to the podcast. 'When our daughter became pregnant at 16, I made mistakes in my guidance that resulted in lifelong consequences,' her mother, Debbie Blanzy, wrote in a statement shared with the podcast. 'Influenced by a culture that believed babies developed best in two-parent homes, I embraced this philosophy and didn't connect with our daughter's earnest desire to parent her baby son.' She explained that their health insurance would not cover any of the expenses incurred during the birth. But the Godparent Home, at the university where she is an alum, had promised her expenses would be covered – on the condition that she complete the program. 'In other words, if she left early without staff approval, we would have to reimburse the Home for the expenses incurred for our daughter's time scared me.' 'There was so much I didn't realize back then about adoption, adoptee trauma, and the injurious aftermath suffered by birth parents,' she said, adding that she has come to 'see things about the practice of adoption in the U.S. that are in need of reform.' Abbi's father, Don, echoed the regret in his statement: 'Knowing what I know now, I would not have allowed the adoption process to proceed,' he said. 'I should have simply said, 'We are having a baby. Let us celebrate and go home,'' he added, admitting that he had been 'wrongfully influenced by the culture around me.' A dangerous resurgence What happened to Abbi isn't just history — it's prophecy. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there has been a 23 percent increase in maternity homes across the United States. And Liberty's Godparent Home sits at the center of this growing movement. 'People think these homes went away,' says Raphael. 'They didn't. They never stopped existing. If anything, in 2025, they're growing. Since the end of Roe, there has been an effort to grow them across the country.' Through her research, Raphael found that $50 million in state and federal funding has fueled the expansion of anti-abortion counseling centers, adoption agencies, and maternity homes. The former director of the Godparent Home sat for years on the leadership council of the National Maternity Housing Coalition — run by Heartbeat International, the largest anti-abortion organization in the world. That's why this story matters now, Raphael says. 'I wanted to tell a story that could speak to our present moment. And what I learned is that the post-Roe landscape isn't just about banning abortion — it's about controlling the outcomes of birth. That includes who gets to be a parent.' The Independent has reached out to both Liberty University and the Godparent Home for comment, but has not received a response. They did not respond to multiple requests for comment by Liberty Lost. More than a story — it's a warning Liberty Lost isn't just about one maternity home, or one girl. The series asks a chilling question in a post-Roe America: Who gets to decide who is worthy of becoming, or remaining, a parent? 'There's a need, in theory, for these places – places that provide safe housing, food, support for vulnerable women,' Raphael said. 'That is a wonderful idea in theory, but when it is intertwined with potentially problematic values about single motherhood, that's where the problem is and that's when women face the risk of being separated from their children.' For Abbi Johnson, the wound has never healed. But speaking out, she says, is part of the path forward — not just for her, but for others. 'My biggest hope is that people think a lot more about the circumstances a woman finds herself in that she would even be considering adoption,' she said. 'Who's putting that option in front of her and how is it being presented and how is she being made to feel in terms of support?' 'And not just in that moment – of that traumatic experience of being pregnant when you feel like you have no support and no resources – but think about every factor that goes into finding yourself in that situation,' she continued. 'Think about what we offer women and why we offer those options and why this idea that there are better women suited for someone else's baby is such a culturally accepted idea.'
The Herald
20-06-2025
- The Herald
Three underage girls pregnant: Statutory rape under investigation
North West police are investigating three cases of statutory rape after being alerted to the pregnancies of three girls aged 14, 15 and 16. The girls visited a clinic unaccompanied by their parents, which raised suspicion and concerns from health professionals about possible breaches of duty of care by their guardians, police said. The Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act broadens the crime of rape and prohibits acts of consensual sexual violation in some cases as statutory sexual assault. A preliminary investigation revealed all three girls have been involved in consensual intimate relationships and unprotected sex with their boyfriends that led to all three falling pregnant. A police spokesperson said: "The 14-year-old was impregnated by a 17-year-old, the 16-year-old by an 18-year-old and the age of the 15-year-old girl's boyfriend is yet to be verified. "The case dockets will be referred to the public prosecutor for decisions." TimesLIVE
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The average age of U.S. moms is nearing 30, new CDC data shows
Women in the U.S. are waiting longer to have babies. For the first time, the average age for giving birth has risen to nearly 30, according to a new report. Shopify just killed UX design 'No Kings Day' map, speakers, cities: Everything to know about today's protests Ram Trucks fires up a near-perfect brand apology ad The data, which comes from the National Vital Statistics System, was published on Friday in the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics report. Per the report, the average age for giving birth rose by nearly a year from 2016 to 2023. It went from 28.7 years old to 29.6. Likewise, the age for first-time mothers increased similarly over the same time period, from 26.6 to 27.5. Interestingly, teen pregnancies fell, too. In 2016, they accounted for 11.8% of all births. In 2023, they made up only 8.7%. The latest findings are in line with the fact that many people are delaying marriage until later in life. According to a 2021 Pew Research report, the average age for tying the knot has risen dramatically since the 1980s. The number of U.S. adults who were married by age 21 dropped from about 33% in 1980 to 6% in 2021. And marrying by age 25 plunged, too, from nearly 66% to 22%. However, according to the same report, people aren't just delaying marriage until their late 20s or even 30s. About 25%—a record number—were still unmarried at 40. Of course, the fact that it's become massively more expensive to have a family likely plays a role in women delaying having children, or not having any at all. A recent LendingTree analysis found that since 2023, the annual cost of raising a young child has jumped by nearly 36%. In 2025, the tab is around $30,000 per year. Over 18 years, raising a child costs $300,000 (though in several states, it's even higher). However, women also are increasingly becoming financially independent, and perhaps decentering the goal of marriage and motherhood at the same time. In 2024, 20% of homebuyers were single women, while only 8% of single men bought their own homes last year. And a 2019 Morgan Stanley report projected that by 2030, 45% of women between 25 and 44 will be single and child-free. U.S. women are not the only ones delaying motherhood. According to recent government data, per The Guardian, Japanese women are doing the same. In 2024, the number of births in Japan dropped by 5.7% from the previous year, to 686,061. The number marks the lowest birth rate since the recordkeeping began in 1899. The latest data comes as the Trump administration has recently floated the idea of incentivizing childbirth by giving families a $5,000 'baby bonus' to help offset the costs. Given that the hospital bills alone for giving birth in the U.S. can average around $3,000 (for a vaginal delivery with insurance), it's unlikely the plan will persuade too many American women to have babies before they're financially ready and able (or even at all). This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
