![]() While many religious and women’s rights groups praised that decision as one that would protect women and children, other civil libertarians and feminist scholars vehemently oppose the criminalization of the practice - and call for the decriminalization of polygamy. In that 335-page ruling, the judge acknowledged that while the law does violate freedom of religion, it’s nevertheless justified due to the harms that polygamy imposes on women and children. That prompted the government to launch a constitutional case that upheld the country’s anti-polygamy criminal laws in 2011. In 2009, polygamy charges against Blackmore and Oler were thrown out over the method that the province chose the special prosecutor. Oler then replaced him, but Blackmore continued to lead his own splinter group. In 2002, Jeffs excommunicated Blackmore, who was then the FLDS leader in Bountiful, for reasons that remain unclear. This includes the U.S.-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), formerly led by Warren Jeffs, who is serving life in prison for multiple child rape convictions. ![]() The mainstream Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Utah officially renounced polygamy in the late 1800s and denies any connection to Blackmore and other fundamentalist Mormon congregations. Oler did not have a lawyer in the proceedings and did not defend himself, either. It’s unclear how many children Oler has.īlackmore’s lawyer has previously pledged to launch a constitutional challenge against the country’s laws prohibiting polygamy should his client be convicted. Blackmore has fathered a reported 148 children. ![]() The pair face the possibility of spending years in jail for the crimes.īoth Blackmore and Oler, 53, are former bishops over fundamentalist Mormon sects in Bountiful, a religious commune of about 1,000 people in southeastern British Columbia. ![]()
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