In Idaho, medical-care exemptions for faith healing come under fire - The Washington Post
peter.suber's bookmarks 2018-02-26
Summary:
PS: Like Yoder v. Wisconsin. Parents acting on behalf of children and harming them (in this case, unquestionably, unlike Yoder where reasonable people could disagree).
"Child advocates estimate that 183 Idaho children have died because of withheld medical treatment since states across the nation enacted faith-healing exemptions in the early 1970s....
Wingate estimates that three to four children will die this year in Idaho alone if lawmakers fail to lift the state’s faith-healing exemptions....
“Because this happens over time, people don’t get shocked. But 183 kids is outrageous,” Wingate said. To make his point, he built 183 pint-size coffins. On Monday, dozens of children’s advocates carried the pine boxes through the streets of downtown Boise to the Idaho Statehouse in a rally that unfolded as part protest and part funeral procession.
Marchers remembered the dead and carried signs urging state lawmakers to repeal Idaho’s faith-healing exemptions so parents could no longer deny their children medical care under the shield of religious freedom....
More children die of faith-based medical neglect in Idaho than any other state, according to Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, a nonprofit organization that tracks medical neglect and lobbies to repeal religious medical-care exemptions."