Content advisory: sexual abuse, suicide. If you need to talk to someone for support, please call the national suicide and crisis lifeline at 988, even if you’re in goddamned Idaho.
The Washington Post was probably wise not to allow comments on its story Monday about how an Idaho law designed to “protect parental rights” is getting in the way of teenagers getting healthcare (gift link). The law requires that parents must give consent before their minor children receive any healthcare at all, with the only exception being when treatment is necessary “in order to prevent death or imminent, irreparable physical injury.” That’s basically the same standard as Idaho’s extremely narrow “exceptions” to its total ban on abortions.
The goal of Senate Bill 1329, the “Parental Rights in Medical Decision-Making Act,” which passed earlier this year, was to make sure parents knew and approved of any healthcare their precious children were getting. Just helping parents! But as SB 1329’s sponsors very openly explained, the bill was specifically aimed at protecting kids from evil socialist groomers (counselors or medical providers) who might discuss birth control or gender identity without the parents’ knowledge. Because if parents are informed, they can stop their kids from being horny or trans, obviously.
Turns out there’s a downside, as the lede of the WaPo story explains: When a pregnant 13-year-old in McCall, Idaho, showed up at the ER having “mild but frequent contractions” at 36 weeks, the staff couldn’t even begin examining her without permission from a parent or guardian. But the girl, identified only as Aleah, was in the care of her great-aunt, because Aleah’s mom lived in a car and couldn’t be found, and her grandmother, Aleah’s legal guardian, was in jail down in the Boise area. Only after the hospital located her grandmother — in jail — and got consent could the ER doc, Caitlin Gustafson, determine that Aleah wasn’t in labor.
“I was freaking out,” said Anna Karren, the relative who had taken Aleah into her home just days before. What if the hospital couldn’t reach the right person? “They want guardianship papers, and I don’t have them.”
This is one of those stories where we will have to slap our hands every time we’re tempted to blockquote large passages, because it’s such a batshit terrible situation you really should go read the whole story with your gift link to appreciate how very fucked up it all is.
We’ll give you a little spoiler, if only so you can collect your jaw off the table. Eventually, Ms. Karren did get medical power of attorney for Aleah, and then became her legal guardian, and now the girl is a mother at 13. We learn that her child’s dad, also a teen, is in juvie, that they didn’t think about using birth control, and that “she never considered an abortion, which would have required a trip to another state anyway.” Idaho’s insane “abortion trafficking” law remains on hold as a lawsuit continues, so its possible her great-aunt could have taken her to a free state — if they’d had the money, which seems unlikely as well. That poor kid. Her poor kid, too.
The Post notes, not at all chillingly, that “One of the new law’s quirks is that while Aleah cannot consent for her own care, she is the parent who can do so for her baby.” Aleah’s story is tragic and moving and you should read the whole WaPo piece, but we’re actually going to focus here on the wider problems with the law.
WaPo explains why the law was opposed by so many healthcare providers, counselors, school officials, and even some members of law enforcement:
Critics say the law — which also grants parents access to minors’ health records, doing away with confidentiality that providers and teen advocates call crucial — ignores the reality that parents aren’t always present or trustworthy.
The result has been that teenagers are avoiding getting counseling, and law enforcement agencies aren’t sure whether they can collect rape kit evidence, to say nothing of the difficulty of gathering evidence if a minor is sexually assaulted by a family member. Prior to SB 1329, victims could give consent for the exams if they were at least 14 years old.
The Post also cites examples offered by Idaho Academy of Family Physicians board President Crystal Pyrack:
In one, a 17-year-old with a hornet allergy was stung but was unable to get a new EpiPen from his primary-care physician or urgent care because his parents were traveling; by the time he arrived at a hospital, he was in anaphylaxis. In another case, Pyrak said, a 16-year-old was treated at an emergency department for a suicide attempt, but the parents refused to allow follow-up.
Idaho, we’ll just note, is among the states with the highest teen suicide rates — not at the very top with Alaska and South Dakota, but very bad, like several other states in the Mountain West.
I sure am glad Arizona didn’t have a law like this when I was 17 and feeling completely worthless. I can’t say whether I absolutely would have avoided seeing a counselor out of fear that my mom would have to know, or whether I would have harmed myself, but it definitely would have made me delay.
But depressed kids in Idaho now don’t even have the option of seeking confidential help. Thank goodness, the Idaho Legislature will make sure their parents are informed, to facilitate better communication or sweep their kids’ crises under the rug.
As the Post reports, advocates for the bill were very open about their motives: Minors need to be protected from getting information about sexual health, sex itself, the existence of LGBTQ+ people, and other stuff that might make them reject their parents’ version of Christian morality.
“We don’t let kids drive, we don’t let them get tattoos, we don’t let them drink, but we’re going to allow them to make medical decisions that affect the rest of their lives without their parents?” said Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R), the Idaho bill’s sponsor. “The most trusted bond that we can have is that between a child and their parent, and it’s everyone else who is getting in the way. … It needs to stop.”
Fears about the law impeding sexual assault exams are a “ridiculous” misreading, according to Ehardt. Idaho Attorney General Raúl R. Labrador (R) has accused critics of trying to “stir up unnecessary strife and conflict” with extreme interpretations of the law, Idaho Education News reported.
Neither of them seems to have explained — certainly not to the satisfaction of school and hospital lawyers — exactly what in the law would protect them from punitive actions, so the default advice from the attorneys tends to be “assume you need consent.”
During hearings for the bill, one woman
tearfully described how her family had been “severely affected” by school policies that kept confidential her child’s counseling about gender identity. She testified that the teen had been prescribed testosterone without her permission.
The story doesn’t mention the teen’s actual age or any details about the case, but it’s pretty obvious that the prescription didn’t come from the school.
Incredibly, even some Republicans who had serious misgivings about the possible harms of SB 1329 nevertheless voted for it, and Gov. Brad Little signed it even though he added a signing statement in which he
encouraged monitoring for “unintended barriers” to behavioral health services and noted that conflicting laws might “create confusion” for medical professionals.
And no shit, here we are. Maybe the Lege will find a way to fix some of the problems with the law, but don’t hold your breath waiting for anything that might let teens confide in a trusted adult about something their parents might need to put a stop to, like being LGBTQ+, doubting their faith, or wanting to have sex without becoming a 13-year-old parent.
[WaPo (gift link) / Idaho Capital Sun / Photo: “Tambako the Jaguar,” Creative Commons License 2.0]
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On other trans stuff, thinking it's time to leave the College of Southern Nevada after I called the technology Help Desk where the man on the line laughed at my name, switched to my deadname, and laughed and misgendered me. Also thinking I may need a lawyer for Title IX discrimination and violation of the Nevada state constitution.