Posted by
Playful Walrus on Thursday, August 06, 2009 3:15:16 PM
Catherine Lyons, over on the LATimes.com opinion blog, asks if the right to life stops when a child is born. She is specifically is referring to a perceived lack of concern by pro-lifers when it comes to parents who pray for their children instead of seeking medical treatment for them.
Dale Neumann was convicted Saturday of killing his 11-year-old daughter, Madeline, because he prayed for her instead of taking her to a hospital when her undiagnosed diabetes got so bad that she couldn't eat, drink, walk or speak. She died on the floor of her rural Wisconsin home with her father, mother and a group of people praying for her healing. Neumann says he was simply putting his faith first and following the will of God, but a jury found him guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.
If he believes the Bible is authoritative, then for what it is worth, the Bible does not advise believers to forgo medical treatment, nor promise the faithful healing and health in this lifetime. See here for more info. Christian parents should pray for their children and seek medical treatment for them.
This event raises serious questions about the conflict between individual rights and governmental power, just as abortion does. Both involve innocent and dependent lives with no real power to contest a parent's choices.
Actually, I think there is - it is called taking the child into protective custody. If it can be demonstrated that a parent is abusing or neglecting a child, that is what should be done. I believe in parental authority over minors and freedom of religion, but both have their limits. For example, other than abortion, or the post-partum/hormonal defense by women, we do not allow people to get away with child sacrifice.
Isn't this a Right to Life issue? And if it is, where are the Right to Lifers?
Well, I think I qualify as a pro-lifer, as I believe in the sanctity of human life from conception through natural death. I support the prosecution and conviction of Dale Neumann.
I'd like to turn this question around, though. What about someone who denies treatment, or even just hydration, to a comatose adult? Why is that okay but denying treatment to a diabetic child is prosecutable as murder?
I also want to point out that the right to life means protection from someone else killing you - obviously, we all die one way or another. It can be argued that Neumann contributed to the death of his child by refusing to get her readily available, established treatment.
God ordains the means and the ends. If medical treatments can help, do not avoid them. Prayer is great, but there is no reason why it can't be done in conjunction with medical treatment. From everything I've read and experienced, prayer's primary function is to get is to focus on God (not to "change God's mind"), and you can do that while also using medicine. Unless God has given you special, specific revelation, then refusing the medical abilities He has provided to people so as to demonstrate "faith" is mere superstition, akin to thinking your mother's spine will be damaged because you stepped on a crack on the sidewalk.