Owen Allred claims he is grateful for Sen. Ron Allen trying to institute laws regulating marriage for the well being of young girls. He claims they are precious and should be allowed to choose who they marry. In the Allred Group, there is a rule: A man may approach Owen Allred if he wishes to court a young girl. Owen will say yes or no. If he says no, that's the end. If he says yes, the man can then go to the girl's father. If the girl's father says no, that's the end. If he says yes, then, he can go to the girl. Then the girl has the right to choose yes or no.
The girl has a choice? Sure, the girl can choose from a select group of men, most of them already married. After an individual has been screened by Allred and her father, then she can say yes or no -- that is, provided she isn't pressured into a relationship.
Allred claims free agency is one of the greatest gifts given to mankind. Whose definition of free agency are we talking about? A man goes through the process of getting permission to marry a young girl. She chooses whether, and a wedding takes place. The man moves the young girl out to a ranch owned by the church and miles away from civilization, into a trashed trailer, with no transportation and she is isolated. Now, the man and his other wives have free rein to "teach" her whatever they please. So she conforms, losing any individuality she once possessed.
Soon, the kids start coming along. The young girl is given the choice of which midwife in the group will deliver her children at home. She doesn't have the means to take care of herself and suffers the whole nine months, then her baby is born mentally retarded due to complications at birth.
Then the man tells her to get a job. The other wives watch her kids, and in return, she watches theirs. Then, the man confiscates all of their paychecks, leaving the young girl no chance to change her life. Now comes the pecking order, and the young wife is on the bottom. The older wives' children treat the young wife's children the same way the older wives treat the young wife. After several years of living hell, and a couple of more wives, the young girl decides to leave; she has had enough. She packs her kids and everything she owns into one of the community cars and finds herself at a homeless shelter or an abused-women shelter. The young girl files a paternity action because she was not legally married, but the father blocks every avenue she can use for state assistance.
T here's no money for food or clothes, and she doesn't even have a nice outfit to look for a job. She finds the system full of polygamists everywhere she turns. Allred graciously hires the father an attorney. So our wonderful court system takes the kids and puts them back into polygamy. Three months later, the young girl is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric lockdown unit for depression. Imagine that! Allred takes full advantage of the situation and arranges for a supervised visitation order for the mother, then moves the children and father to a ranch 500 miles away in another state, where the mother will probably never see her children again.
This is free agency? What kind of warped idea does Allred have of free agency? In Allred's world, men do what he tells them to, and women do what their husbands tell them to. Allred compares a young girl marrying into polygamy to a young girl who made a mistake and got pregnant.
Teen pregnancy has been an issue since the dawn of time. After all, people make mistakes. Somewhere in God's plan, there is a word that Allred seems to have forgotten all about: forgiveness, or a second chance.
Allred claims that he and his people want to be among the best citizens in Utah. I know of other problems. But I sat in church and heard with my own ears when Allred said, "If any problems come up, come to the priesthood. Do not call the police or tell anyone else; we want to take care of it in the group." If Allred really wanted his people to be good citizens, he would not allow this behavior to go on in his group. He would report it to the police and insist that perpetrators be prosecuted. Instead, the worst punishment is that they are kicked off the council and their wives are given a divorce. Allred writes letters and articles that are printed in the newspaper, has news conferences and appears before the Senate to paint a pretty picture for the public of what a wonderful group of people he has. He claims to be an upright disciple and even a prophet of God. There's another word I can think of for him, hypocrite. He's really hiding behind God, changing course when it behooves him and manipulating the system for the benefit of his group. Allred wants the senators, representatives and congressmen to have mercy on his group. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing with a mission in mind. He wants control, and he has it. He needs to be locked up for the benefit of society; he needs to be stopped.
I spent 25 years in the Allred Group, watching them steal from one another, from others outside the group and rape one anothers' children. Family after family left in sickening living conditions. Children left to eat from dumpsters behind grocery stores, and left with medical needs neglected. Babies left with serious lifelong medical conditions from complications of birth at home which could have been prevented with treatment. Allred claims to live polygamy to raise a righteous posterity. Before righteousness, there has to at least be some level of self-respect. Allred says he would love to have every marriage recorded by the state. Well, Owen, that's simple, send them your marriage records. Allred said on television, "Enforce the laws we have, don't make new ones." That's simple, too. After Owen has sent the marriage records, the state can prosecute him.