The birthrate in two polygamous towns along the Arizona-Utah border plummeted after a decree from the jailed leader of a fundamentalist sect.

Warren Jeffs halted all weddings and sexual relations between married couples for his followers in 2011. The effect was massive on Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, both populated with followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. Health department records show that only 42 babies were born in the sister cities in 2013 — down from the 467 births in 2009.

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, the lack of pregnant women prompted staff at a health clinic to consider closing the birthing center. Sex was banned in late 2011 after Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered wives.