T. J. Raphael
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tjraphael.bsky.social
T. J. Raphael
@tjraphael.bsky.social
Investigative Journalist | Alum: Wondery, Sony, Slate, WNYC, New York Daily News, The Village Voice | Latina 🇵🇷 | WGAE Member 📝 | NYC 📍
https://tjraphael.com
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Right now, Republicans are working to ‘replace’ reproductive healthcare clinics with crisis pregnancy centers—claiming that the fake clinics are perfectly acceptable alternatives to the credible healthcare centers their policies are shuttering.

Here's the reality:
October 29, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Liberty Lost won gold for Best Documentary at the Signal Awards! 🏅🌟

A huge thank you to the judges, my team at Wondery, and the brave birth mothers and survivors who shared their stories with me and the world.

In the words of the iconic RuPaul Charles, I'm a winner, baby! 🤸 ✨

#documentary
October 15, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Thank you for this piece @jessicavalenti.bsky.social. I find @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social's argument especially ghoulish, especially considering he's consistently invoked his own wife's high risk pregnancy in the past when talking about the need for abortion access jessica.substack.com/p/ezra-klein...
Ezra Klein is Wrong About Abortion
Abortion *is* a big tent issue
jessica.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Liberty Lost has been nominated for Signal Award! For best documentary. It’s a listener choice award so please vote and share! vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...
The Signal Listener's Choice Award needs YOU
I just voted for this finalist to win a Signal Listener's Choice Award. You should too.
vote.signalaward.com
September 23, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
As someone who grew up in Jerry Falwell’s town and lived just three miles from the Liberty Godparent Home during my own teen pregnancy, T.J. Raphael’s Liberty Lost podcast really resonated with me. So grateful for the opportunity to work on this story - please give it a read! #libertylost
“I thought of maternity homes as a thing of the past. I didn’t realize that they actually never went away in certain communities.”

New at MUTHA: Editor Jen Bryant speaks with T.J. Raphael about the LIBERTY LOST podcast, coerced adoptions, and modern-day maternity homes in the post-Roe era.
Coercion, Control, and Modern-Day Maternity Homes: An Interview with LIBERTY LOST’s T.J. Raphael
<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When Abbi Johnson turned thirteen, her father handed her a gift-wrapped box...
www.muthamagazine.com
August 26, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
'Liberty Lost' podcast alleges program coerced pregnant teens into adoption
'Liberty Lost' podcast alleges program coerced pregnant teens into adoption
"I had bought into all of the… 'You can't be a good enough mom if you're young and you're alone.'"
www.vpm.org
August 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
@religiondispatches.org interviews journalist @tjraphael.bsky.social about her podcast, Liberty Lost, which sheds light on Liberty University’s secretive maternity home, Godparent Home. Learn how maternity homes and faith based adoption play into a White christian nationalist agenda: bit.ly/3HviRli
Liberty University’s Baby Business: Forced Birth + Coerced Adoption = White Christian Nationalism
Earlier this summer, investigative journalist T.J. Raphael released a seven-episode podcast, Liberty Lost, which investigates the history of Liberty University’s Godparent Home. In this secretive mate...
bit.ly
August 12, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
As part of my journey to become increasingly angry at how women are treated in this country, I binge-listened to Liberty Lost last week. It is heart-wrenching, but SO GOOD.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...
Liberty Lost
Society & Culture Podcast · Weekly Series · In Evangelical homes across the United States, sex outside of marriage is a sin against God. So, when Abbi becomes pregnant at 16, her devout parents hide h...
podcasts.apple.com
August 5, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Did you know that Liberty University has a maternity home on campus? I didn't.

I just started listening to Liberty Lost, a podcast about the girls forced to live at Liberty University's maternity home & forced give their babies away to "male-headed households."
open.spotify.com/episode/5mTt...
August 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Toni Pophum did everything she could to keep her baby. She’s one of several former residents to appear in “Liberty Lost,” a new podcast.
Pregnant at 13 in 1991, a St. Louis native sent to a maternity home now speaks out
Toni Pophum did everything she could to keep her baby. She’s one of several former residents to appear in “Liberty Lost,” a new podcast.
www.stlpr.org
July 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
The "Maternity Home" attached to the evangelical Liberty University has a disturbing past and present, all propped up by huge amounts of money.
Watch more Hysteria on YouTube.
July 10, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

Tucked away on the campus of Liberty University is Liberty Godparent Home, where young, unwed mothers go for support. Instead, it's a place where vulnerable teens feel pressured to surrender their babies in exchange for full-ride scholarships to Liberty University.
A pregnant girl sought help from care-giver and it cost the teen her baby
Tucked away on the campus of Liberty University is a maternity home where young, unwed mothers go for support. But a new podcast by Wondery, Liberty Lost, instead reveals a place where vulnerable teen...
www.independent.co.uk
July 9, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
A new podcast series by journalist T.J. Raphael delves into the Liberty Godparent Home and terrifying tales of former residents.
Liberty Lost: Podcast Series Exposes Maternity Home Controlled by Liberty University
A new podcast series by journalist T.J. Raphael delves into the Liberty Godparent Home and terrifying tales of former residents.
joshstanfield.substack.com
July 18, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Former residents say Liberty’s Godparent Home used shame and faith to force adoptions.
Inside Liberty University’s Secret Maternity Home
Imagine you’re a pregnant teenager in 1972. Abortion isn’t an option, and you’re not ready to get married… so you might turn to a maternity home for unwed mothers. You’ll live there until the baby is ...
msmagazine.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Apparently the US has their own version of the Magdalene Laundries podcastingtoday.co.uk/liberty-lost...
Liberty Lost podcast investigates secretive US maternity home practices
Acclaimed audio journalist and podcaster T.J. Raphael is hosting a new Wondery investigative podcast, Liberty Lost.
podcastingtoday.co.uk
July 14, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Worth a listen.
In a new podcast, I expose LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S best kept secret — a maternity home where pregnant teens (some just 13) say they are kept in isolation and face coercion & religious manipulation until they place their babies for adoption to Christian couples.🎧 linktr.ee/tjraphael #reproductivejustice
July 13, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
I just listened to the first four episodes of this powerful podcast. If you thought you hated Jerry Falwell just the right amount, listen to this and you’ll realize you didn’t hate him nearly enough.
In a new podcast, I expose LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S best kept secret — a maternity home where pregnant teens (some just 13) say they are kept in isolation and face coercion & religious manipulation until they place their babies for adoption to Christian couples.🎧 linktr.ee/tjraphael #reproductivejustice
July 13, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Grateful for the chance to work on this @msmagazine.com piece about @tjraphael.bsky.social and @wonderymedia.bsky.social's podcast Liberty Lost, which covers the terrifying history of maternity homes in the U.S.
Inside Liberty University’s Secret Maternity Home
Imagine you’re a pregnant teenager in 1972. Abortion isn’t an option, and you’re not ready to get married… so you might turn to a maternity home for unwed mothers. You’ll live there until the baby is ...
msmagazine.com
July 11, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
You all should take a listen to this podcast. So well done.
In a new podcast, I expose LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S best kept secret — a maternity home where pregnant teens (some just 13) say they are kept in isolation and face coercion & religious manipulation until they place their babies for adoption to Christian couples.🎧 linktr.ee/tjraphael #reproductivejustice
July 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
I listened to episode four of this last night and it was all I could do not to wake the baby up to hold him. It’s harrowing, harrowing listening. The cruelty of every adult involved in this story is simple horrific.
In a new podcast, I expose LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S best kept secret — a maternity home where pregnant teens (some just 13) say they are kept in isolation and face coercion & religious manipulation until they place their babies for adoption to Christian couples.🎧 linktr.ee/tjraphael #reproductivejustice
July 1, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
Adoption isn’t always a choice. Dive into the @tjraphael.bsky.social investigation into how faith‑based maternity homes shape reproductive options in a post‑Roe landscape:
reprorights.substack.com/p/how-matern...
#ReproJustice #AbortionAccess #ResistChristianNationalism #LibertyLost #PodcastLife
How Maternity Homes Became a Hidden Battleground in the Post-Roe Era
T.J. Raphael’s podcast “Liberty Lost” uncovers how faith-based maternity homes shaped adoption practices—and how their influence is growing in a post-Roe America.
reprorights.substack.com
June 29, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
3 years post-Roe, #MaternityHomes are rising—places where pregnant people are pushed toward adoption. In her podcast Liberty Lost, T.J. Raphael reveals how religious agendas drive this troubling trend, with 500 maternity homes across the U.S. including more than a dozen in Illinois. bit.ly/4ltAGjb
Adoption Should Also Be a Choice. In Post-Roe America, It’s Increasingly Not.
It’s been three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the right to legal abortion in the United States.
slate.com
June 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM
In a new podcast, I expose LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S best kept secret — a maternity home where pregnant teens (some just 13) say they are kept in isolation and face coercion & religious manipulation until they place their babies for adoption to Christian couples.🎧 linktr.ee/tjraphael #reproductivejustice
June 9, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by T. J. Raphael
💊The research suggests that ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the morning after pill, could be used to replace mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in a common type of abortion.
Alternative to mifepristone could be used in abortions, study says
A new study found that the emergency contraception pill could be used as an alternative to mifepristone.
www.euronews.com
January 24, 2025 at 1:33 PM
This is the correct take. Character is besides the point. The dude is unqualified for the job for a whole host of other reasons. #Hegspeth
So the Dems are aligned in using the Hegspeth allegations to oppose him. Dumb.
The man is not qualified for the job. That is all that matters. He has never managed more than 100 people. He won't be the actual one running DOD because he has no clue how.

And this is what the Dems focus on ?
January 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM