Mystical Angels

How many more child martyrs do we need?

Utah Code 76-5-109 Child Abuse – Child Abandonment, Part (6) A parent or legal guardian who provides a child with treatment by spiritual means alone through prayer, in lieu of medical treatment, in accordance with the tenets and practices of an established church or religious denomination of which the parent or legal guardian is a member or adherent shall not, for that reason alone, be considered to have committed an offense under this section. What this section says is that withholding medical treatment is only considered abusive if the parents aren’t religious. So an atheist who doesn’t believe in using medical treatments could be convicted of child abuse for withholding treatment, but a Christian Science adherent who allows their child to die while only using prayer to heal them isn’t guilty of child abuse. Why does our code have this protection of religious ideals in there? Who really thinks this is a good idea to not protect children from parents that would refuse to give them medical treatment for life-threatening conditions, based on religious beliefs or not? How many children need to die before we remove this from our lawbooks? Isn’t “spiritual healing” covered in the very next part or the code? It states, “A parent or guardian of a child does not violate this section by selecting a treatment option for the medical condition of the child, if the treatment option is one that a reasonable parent or guardian would believe to be in the best interest of the child.” This seems to cover faith-based healing to a certain degree where the long-term health and life of the child are not in danger. Relying on prayer to treat a child with minor illnesses can be viewed as reasonable but refusing treatment for fully treatable, life-threatening conditions should not be. This is just Utah but the majority of states have similar laws that protect "spiritual healing."

Public Comments

1. none but guess what their parents make those decisions. We dont.
2. You know, i suspect this barbaric law exists in USA only?..(of developed countries) EVERYWHERE else the parent will end up in prison
3. Prayer is also a kind of treatment, therefore I guess its alright to pray. On the other hand, it is not bad to take medical treatments because God has blessed us with marvelous mind to overcome such problems. Nothing to worry about. Have a peaceful time.
4. It makes me sick, especially now that I am a parent myself. This happened where I live.. http://www.masscops.com/forums/national/78148-newborn-dies-albuquerque-parents-pray.html Why would anyone consider a prayer circle more helpful than say something simple like oxygen if they can't breathe. Is it that hard to do your prayers AND call for medical help? Oi.