State law in Washington requires parents to provide their children with food, water, shelter, clothing and health care — things the state deems “basic necessities of life.”
That is, unless the parent is a Christian Scientist, in which case faith-based healing can take the place of a trip to the doctor.
A bill introduced Friday by state Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, would eliminate an exemption in Washington state law that allows Christian Scientists—but not members of other religious groups—to treat their children with prayer or faith-healing methods instead of traditional medicine.
Mullet said he doesn’t think that Christian Scientists should be held to different standards than other groups when it comes to what counts as child abuse or neglect.
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The bill also has backing from a national group known as Children’s Health Care is a Legal Duty (CHILD), which has fought to pass laws against religious-based abuse and neglect in more than a dozen states.
The group is led by Rita Swan, a former Christian Scientist who left the church after her 16-month-old son, Matthew, died from meningitis in 1977. He received faith healing, but no medical care, she said.
Swan said Washington’s law “is narrow in that it only applies to Christian Scientists, but it is certainly pretty blatant in calling prayer medical treatment.”
“I don’t see why Christian Scientists should have a right to let their kids die,” Swan said. “I don’t see why they should have a law that lets them do this, even if they don’t mean to do this.”
No faith healing instead of medical care for kids, state senator says | The Politics Blog | The Olympian
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