Idaho suicide hotline the latest to be hit by ‘terrible’ law | Opinion
Consider Idaho’s suicide hotline the latest casualty of unintended consequences of a terrible law passed by Idaho Republicans and signed by Gov. Brad Little in 2024.
According to an Idaho Statesman story, Idaho high school freshman Jace Woods is trying to get the law changed after he called the suicide hotline and was told they couldn’t help him without his parent’s consent.
The problem is the so-called Parents’ Rights in Medical Decision-making Act, which wanted to make sure children couldn’t discuss birth control, abortion, or gender identity without their parents’ permission.
It allows parents to sue a health care provider that gives care to a minor without parental consent.
The law is written so broadly and so badly that organizations that work with children, such as school districts, have interpreted it — correctly — to mean that they can’t even give a child a Band-Aid or a Tylenol without consent from a parent. This isn’t a surprise; supporters were repeatedly warned that things like this would happen, but they ignored the obvious harm they would cause Idaho’s children.
Such was the case with the Boise School District, on guidance from the Idaho School Boards Association, according to Idaho Education News.
Shortly after the law went into effect in 2024, the school district sent a memo to parents asking them to fill out a consent form to allow district nurses to provide non-life-threatening medical care.
So, too, with the Idaho suicide hotline.
The suicide hotline can’t step in without parental consent unless a person is assessed at being at risk of imminent harm or death, Lee Flinn, the director of the Idaho Crisis & Suicide Hotline, told the Statesman.
There have been other serious consequences, too.
The Washington Post in October 2024 documented the story of a 13-year-old pregnant girl in McCall who started having contractions, but doctors couldn’t treat her without parental consent. But the girl’s mother was homeless and unreachable. Finally, hospital lawyers were able to get consent from the girl’s grandmother, who was in jail when her granddaughter needed medical assistance.
At the time, Idaho Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, a youth organization director, told the Washington Post that he warned his fellow Republican lawmakers about the unintended consequences of the bill.
“It has been a terrible bill with terrible outcomes for the youth, especially those who are the victims of their parents’ abuse,” Erickson wrote in an email. “I have seen youth not want to participate in therapy for fear their abuser would gain access to what they are talking about. I tried to warn my fellow legislators … but I was one Republican voice among a group of people who do not understand how things work on the ground.”
As an illustration of how dysfunctional Idaho politics has become, Erickson still voted for the measure despite knowing how harmful it would be.
Beyond giving Band-Aids and Tylenol, the stakes are much higher when it comes to the suicide hotline.
Idaho in 2023 had the fourth-highest suicide rate in the country, about 1.6 times the national average, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
From 2017 to 2021, 132 Idaho school children (ages 10-18 years old) died by suicide, according to the Department of Health and Welfare.
And according to the Jason Foundation, suicide is the leading cause of death for children ages 10-18 in Idaho.
Meanwhile, Jace Woods, the freshman who’s fighting for a change in the law, said most people his age know someone who has died by suicide, attempted suicide or is struggling with suicidal thoughts.
This is no time for misguided laws to worsen the situation.
Fortunately, parents can fill out “blanket consent” forms so if their child needs to call the suicide hotline, they can do so without getting parental permission each time. Parents can call 988 for more information.
Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, one of the sponsors of the 2024 legislation, said that there will be added language to address the problem. We hope so.
We join Jace in the call to change the law and save lives.
We hope Idaho legislators join Jace, too.
Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, assistant editor Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.