Fake controversy around medical care seeks to undermine Idaho parents’ rights

Critics of a 2024 parental consent law out of Idaho are sounding the alarm about its effects on healthcare for children, but it appears to be a manufactured crisis.

Senate Bill 1329 requires a parent or guardian to give a provider consent before performing any “health care service,” which the bill defines as “for the diagnosis, screening, examination, prevention, treatment, cure, care, or relief of any physical or mental health condition, illness, injury, defect, or disease.” As a result, the bill “has been hampering children’s access to care in unintended ways,” according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

Idaho’s 988 Director Lee Flinn told The Capital Sun that there are times where a teen might be suicidal but isn’t at an immediate risk because they haven’t made a plan for it yet. Flinn says they cannot “offer that follow up call or support to minors because of this law.”

Intentionally obtuse

This appears to be an overly broad and somewhat obtuse reading of the law.

The bill states that a provider does not need parental consent if it “reasonably determines that a medical emergency exists and furnishing the health care service is necessary to prevent death or imminent, irreparable physical injury to the minor child.”

One would think it is perfectly reasonable to classify a child contemplating suicide as a medical emergency.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R-Idaho Falls) echoed the same sentiment. She believes the law is being “misconstrued” and applied in ways it was not intended, according to The Capital Sun.

For what it’s worth, Ehardt is working on a new bill with Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon (R-Rupert) for next year’s legislative session that they hope will help clarify the existing law.

Given the Left’s assault on parental rights in recent years, one must wonder if this is merely faux outrage intended to subvert the will of parents regarding other “medical” procedures such as abortion or access to contraception.

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