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cover of episode Listen Now: Liberty Lost

Listen Now: Liberty Lost

2025/6/23
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Hysterical

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TJ Raphael: 在美国福音派家庭中,婚外性行为被视为对上帝的罪恶。当Abby在16岁时怀孕,她的虔诚父母将她藏在 Liberty Godparent Home。这个机构声称帮助女孩们决定下一步,无论是自己抚养孩子还是选择收养。然而,在这个机构内部,女孩们听到的信息是:上帝希望她们的孩子被更“值得”的基督教夫妇收养。Liberty Lost 讲述了一个关于年轻的爱、胁迫和反抗的真实故事,以及在后罗伊时代美国产妇之家的危险复兴。一些像Abby这样的女孩会将悲痛转化为反抗,并在更多的母亲因她们不想要的收养而失去孩子之前,挺身而出反对这个制度。Abby和Nathan在等待一个重要的仪式,他们既紧张又期待。Abby的父母认为他们需要纠正未婚生子的错误,一个等待在红毯尽头的夫妇将要领养他们的孩子。这种强制收养的现象在美国仍然存在。这一切都是为了按照上帝的形象重塑国家,确保国家拥有合适的母亲。 Abby: 我感到自己受到了惩罚,并且被告知我不配成为我儿子的母亲。我感到非常黑暗和邪恶,就像一个笑话。他们明明知道我爱我的孩子,他们本不必从我身边夺走他。我走在红毯上,感受到周围的人都希望我为这件事感到高兴,这让我感到更加痛苦。

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In evangelical homes across the United States, sex outside marriage is a sin against God. So when Abby becomes pregnant at 16, her devout parents hide her away at the Liberty Godparent Home, a little-known facility for pregnant teens on the campus of Liberty University. The home says it helps girls decide what comes next, whether that's parenting their babies or placing them for adoption.

But inside the facility, the girls hear a different message. God wants their babies to go to more deserving Christian couples. I'm your host, TJ Raphael. From Wondery, Liberty Lost is a startling true story of young love, coercion, and defiance, and the dangerous resurgence of maternity homes in post-Roe America. Some girls will find the strength to fight back. Others will have no choice but to give in.

And some, like Abby, will turn their grief into resistance and take a stand against the system before more mothers lose their children to adoptions they never wanted. I'm about to play a clip from Liberty Lost. Follow Liberty Lost on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Abby and Nathan are waiting for the signal. Any moment now, the ceremony will begin.

You feel this tension, this unknown of what ifs. Both of them are trembling, but they've made sure to look their best. 17-year-old Abby spent the morning carefully curling her long brown hair. I wanted to look good and be a good old Southern girl like I was raised to be.

A 19-year-old Nathan's in a crisp white button-down with freshly cropped hair. The only haircut I've ever paid for in my entire life I got before that. Through the door, they can hear the crowd growing. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles. They're all here to see Abby and Nathan walk down the aisle. Finally, it's time. We walked out the doors, and I was just like, the grand reveal.

Family and friends turn to get a better look. Abby and Nathan walk side by side. In his arms, Nathan holds their son, who was born just 11 days ago. And I'm walking down this aisle, and I remember feeling like everyone in the room wants me to be excited for this. Abby and Nathan both come from evangelical families.

Their baby was born outside of God's union. And now, Abby's parents have told them it's time to correct their mistake. At the end of the aisle, a petite, blonde, southern woman in her mid-thirties and her dark-haired husband are waiting for them. Or rather, they're waiting for Abby and Nathan's son. And that's because today's celebration is not a wedding.

I was being punished and being told I wasn't worthy of getting to be the one who had him, be his mother. And this couple, waiting for them at the end of the aisle, they've been chosen to be the baby's parents, whether Abby and Nathan like it or not. And so I'm disgusted in my body every step I take forward. I'm just horrified by what's occurring.

They reach the end of the aisle, and Nathan forces himself to gently place his son in the couple's arms. I remember being like, I want to burn this place down. I just watched them holding him and felt empty inside. Everyone prays. Abby and Nathan and the couple pose for photos, the newborn baby between them.

There's cake, gifts, and speeches. This is so wrong. This is like so dark. It's so evil. Like this ceremony is like a fucking joke. This ceremony, this fucking joke, it's a celebration of something that was part of American life for decades. Back in the 50s and 60s, young women who got pregnant out of wedlock

were forced to leave their homes and then secretly place their babies for adoption. But the truth is, it's still happening all over America.

And it's all part of a grand plan to reshape the country in God's image. Because the true Christian home that produces successful children must be headed by a godly husband. One man for one woman for one lifetime and no sex, period, outside of marriage. And to make sure the nation has the right kind of mothers. They all saw how much I loved him. They didn't have to take him from me.

They knew I didn't want them to.