The Liberty Lost Podcast Investigates the World of Modern 'Maternity Homes' [View all]

The idea of sending a pregnant person to a maternity home might sound like a relic of the 1950s. But as the Liberty Lost podcast explains, these homes are still operating today and could impact even more mothers and babies after the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

The Wondery investigative series, which came out last week, has rocketed up the charts with its gripping report about the Liberty Godparent Home, a maternity home for pregnant people operating on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Since 1982 the home at the university, which is one of the most powerful cultural institutions in the right-wing evangelical movement, has housed women with unplanned pregnancies. Some people may associate these types of facilities with the bygone and horrifying “baby scoop” era of nearly a century ago.

The home states that the women they house have a choice whether or not to parent their child or relinquish the baby for adoption. But the women interviewed by show host and investigative journalist T.J. Raphael say they felt pressured to choose adoption.

In response to the claims made in the podcast, the Liberty Godparent Foundation, which runs the home, tells Glamour that it rejects “claims of this tabloid podcast as irresponsible journalism designed to undermine this important work and to minimize the importance and effectiveness of pro-life organizations.”



https://www.glamour.com/story/the-liberty-lost-podcast-investigates-the-world-of-modern-maternity-homes