In July the United States Congress placed a one-year moratorium on efforts by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to remove from state laws the existing accommodations of spiritual healing for children. In general these state laws have stated that, in caring for a child's health, a parent's decision to use spiritual means instead of conventional medicine shall not of itself be deemed neglectful or abusive. Although this one-year moratorium does not decide the issue permanently, it will allow Congress to deliberate it fully next year when the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act comes up for reauthorization.
HHS had targeted forty-one states and the District of Columbia, threatening to withhold federal funding for child-abuse prevention and treatment if the states did not bring their laws into compliance with the department's new policy. This policy, however, is not in accord with Congressional legislative intent, and it runs counter to the individual state's right to legislate in this key area of social policy.
"New occasions
teach new duties..."
