WASHINGTON - There was no "Big Love" between Sen. Orrin Hatch and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy on Thursday, as Hatch angrily denied Leahy's suggestion that Hatch defends polygamists.

Leahy raised Hatch's past comments on the issue of plural marriage during a debate on whether a constitutional amendment aimed at banning same-sex marriage should also prohibit polygamous unions.

The Democrat wondered aloud about the amendment's impact on polygamy.

"[Hatch] says he knows a number of those polygamists in Utah, says they're fine people," Leahy said.

Hatch took exception, saying he hadn't made such statements. But Leahy countered that Hatch has been quoted saying as much in past news reports.

"You don't think they're fine people?" Leahy asked.

"I've met some who are very sincere, but I don't justify it," Hatch said.

"Well, if you know they're out there committing a felony and you haven't reported it, then you . . . ," Leahy began.

"Don't accuse me of wanting polygamy," Hatch snapped.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly disavowed polygamy in 1890 and it was outlawed in Utah at the insistence of the federal government as a condition of statehood.

Under Utah law, plural marriage is a third-degree felony. But breakaway groups continue to practice plural marriage. There are believed to be tens of thousands of polygamists throughout the West.

Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamous group that split from the Mormon church and set up an enclave on the Utah-Arizona border, was recently added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, prompting renewed national interest in the practice.

Vicky Prunty, executive director of Tapestry Against Polygamy, a support group for women seeking to escape the lifestyle, said Hatch has done nothing to help stop the practice and has declined to meet with her group.

"This has been going on under his nose for decades and he has never taken a strong stand against polygamy when it's been a felony all along," Prunty said. "I don't know what it's going to take for Senator Hatch and others to start caring for the voiceless citizens of Utah, namely children, whose human and civil rights are being violated."

At a meeting in southern Utah in 2003, Hatch was pressed to take a stand against polygamy, but balked at a hard-line stand.

"I'm not here to justify polygamy," he said at the time. "All I can say is, I know people in Hildale who are polygamists who are very fine people. You come and show me evidence of children being abused there and I'll get involved. Bring the evidence to me."

Asked to elaborate on his view on polygamy Thursday, Hatch said in a statement: "Polygamy is against the law. It's that simple."

"Some of the people who live in polygamous communities are very sincere and are striving to live their religious beliefs. But that doesn't justify what they do. Polygamy is still against the law," he said.

"Nobody, whether they are in a monogamous or polygamous relationship, should be raping or abusing a child," Hatch said.

The senator said he has also helped secure $750,000 for shelters, legal services, education, and training for women and children who leave polygamist sects.

Like most people with Mormon lineage, Hatch has polygamist ancestry.

His great-great grandfather, Hezekiah Hatch, had four wives, as did the senator's great-grandfather, Jeremiah Hatch, who fathered 30 children and founded the town of Vernal at the direction of Brigham Young.

MediaNews reporter Evan Lehman contributed to this report.

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