More than half the teenage girls taken into Texas state custody from a polygamist sect's ranch are either pregnant or have had babies, state child welfare officials said Monday.

Fifty-three girls aged 14 to 17 were living on the ranch, said Child Protective Services agency spokesman Darrell Azar in San Antonio.

They were among 463 children who were taken into custody by state officials earlier this month from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in the small west Texas town of Eldorado after a police raid that was prompted by calls to a domestic violence hotline.

Of those 53 teenage girls, 31 already have children or are pregnant, officials said.

Child welfare officials said there was a pattern of underage girls forced into "spiritual marriages" with much older men at the ranch.

"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," Azar said.

Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can marry with parental permission at 16, but none of the ranch girls is believed to be legally married under state law.

The polygamist sect didn't return a call for comment, the Associated Press said. Church officials have denied that any children were abused and say the state's actions are a form of religious persecution.

No one has been charged since the police raid, which was prompted by calls to a domestic abuse hotline purportedly from a 16-year-old girl forced into a marriage recognized only by the sect with a man three times her age. That girl has not been located and police are investigating whether the call was a hoax.

The polygamist community is part of a sect, run by jailed leader Warren Jeffs, that broke away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after the church, also known as the Mormon church, disavowed polygamy more than a century ago. The sect, which believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven, includes about 1,000 followers in the religious community of Bountiful, B.C.

Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl into marriage with her older cousin, is in an Arizona jail, where he is awaiting a second trial on charges of incest and sexual conduct with a minor.

With files from the Associated Press