Washington State’s Unconscionable, Unconstitutional Child Protection Law

[HuckleB]

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/washington-states-unconscionable-unconstitutional-child-protection-law/

"I recently wrote about the conflict between child protection and the religious freedom of believers in faith healing. That issue has reared its ugly head again in the state of Washington.

Washington law currently denies the children of Christian Scientists equal protection under the law governing child abuse and neglect, and it grants a special exemption from criminal prosecution for abuse and neglect to that one specific religion and not to any others. Even if you supported religious exemptions in principle, there would be no excuse for the preferential treatment of one single religion. This law is clearly unconstitutional.

This law was challenged in the Swezey case. Zachery Swezey was 17 when he died in Spokane, Washington of a ruptured appendix in March 2009. He received no medical treatment because his family belonged to the Church of the First Born, a faith-healing sect that has been responsible for a number of other avoidable deaths of children. See here for links to several of those cases. With medical care, Zachery would almost certainly be alive today. Appendicitis is one of the things conventional medicine is very good at treating; patients rarely die from it anymore; reported death rates are only a fraction of 1%.

Zachery’s parents were tried for manslaughter. The defense argued that the law exempted one faith-healing religion (Christian Science) from prosecution, and there was no rational basis for denying another faith-healing religion (Church of the First Born) the same exemption. The judge ruled that the law had a rational basis because Christian Science practitioners are licensed by the state and required to report child abuse and neglect. The judge was demonstrably wrong. Practitioners are not licensed or accredited by the state and they are not on the state’s list of mandated reporters. There was a hung jury on the manslaughter charges. The parents agreed to a plea deal to avoid jail on the other charges. They will not appeal, so there will be no formal challenge to the law’s constitutionality.

..."


Ugh. These cases just destroy me. Come on, Washington!

[longship]

1. Throw the parents in prison.

The child has no choice and has no say. The same thing with Jehovah Witness children who need a blood transfusion.

Sorry. You don't get to let your child to suffer and die because of your delusions.

Prison for you.

[yurbud]

2. why do christian scientists get an exemption?