Listen Now: Liberty Lost
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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.