A pregnant teen was sent away to a place that promised to help. Then they took her baby. (Liberty University)

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/liberty-university-maternity-home-podcast-b2774458.html#

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.

(snip)

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.

Link to podcast: https://wondery.com/shows/liberty-lost/

[Permanut]

1. Ah, yes, Liberty University..

Founded by that pillar of morality and integrity, "Doctor" Jerry Falwell.
And where his son Jerry Falwell Jr., continued that tradition of moral excellence. Until he was forced to resign, that is.

[underpants]

5. It's a paper mill. I've worked around several Liberty grads

I’ve met one ONE who was both capable at their job and not a pious ass.

[underpants]

11. Jerry specifically started this in the 80's. State and Federal funding. These are growing.

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.

“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.

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.

[phylny]

13. I provided Early Intervention speech

services to young mother and her son. The baby’s father also was involved. They weren’t together and didn’t really get along but both loved their son. It was her second child - she told me her first baby was adopted by Jonathan Falwell.

[underpants]

2. Sounds a lot like A Handmaids Tale

[MineralMan]

4. BINGO! We have a winner!

[underpants]

6. I hadn't read the whole article. They make the same observation

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.

[MineralMan]

14. Ugh! Just Ugh!

[Ocelot II]

9. Or the homes for unwed mothers in Ireland.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/philomenas-law-uk-1.7558684

[underpants]

12. I had no idea. Wow.

[Solly Mack]

3. Sick

[LeftinOH]

7. University of Gilead.

[maveric]

8. Magdalene Laundry?

[Ping Tung]

15. Yes. "Pro-life" isn't about babies. It's about punishment.

[mopinko]

10. always the same.

like the ‘mother and baby homes’ in ireland.

eta- and always in the name of gawd.