AUSTIN -- Texas child welfare officials say that more than half the teen girls -- 31 of the 53 under the age of 18 -- swept into state custody from a polygamist sect's ranch already have children or are pregnant.

While many of the children's mothers and court-appointed lawyers kept up a barrage of criticism of the state's removal of 463 children from their families, Child Protective Services officials countered Monday with the most detailed information to date on how many young girls at the ranch have been pregnant.

"Thirty one of 53 girls between 14 and 17 have children, are pregnant or both," CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.

Under Texas law, children under 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16 but none of the sect's teenage girls are believed to have legal marriages under state law.

The sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, believes in polygamy.

Source: The Dallas Morning News