Public Health, Private Belief
Illinois parents may soon opt out of required vaccinations for their children based upon a "conscientiously held belief" if they do not wish to subject their children to procedures they consider risky. The Illinois Senate recently passed a controversial bill that expands exemptions to the mandate that children be vaccinated, according to the Chicago Tribune. Currently, parents can decline only if vaccination poses a medical risk to the child, or if they submit a written statement objecting on religious grounds.

Working to defeat the bill in the Illinois House are public health officials, members of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and immunization proponents who say that the risks of vaccination do not outweigh the public health benefit. Supporters say that a "philosophical exemption" does not pose a threat to public health, because so few people exercise it. They point to states such as California, where a similar exemption has been in place for more than 30 years, with little ill effect.

With immunization rates in Illinois at 75% overall—with even lower rates in minority neighborhoods—there is no shortage of Illinois children who go unvaccinated. Not, in most cases, because their parents object but because they simply do not have access. Ultimately, this is a far greater public health threat than conscientious objections.

Legislative Deus ex Machina?
As a result of the death last year of 11-year-old Bo Phillips, Oregon lawmakers are considering "two bills that would require faith-healing parents . . . to seek medical care for their sick or injured children or risk criminal charges" reports The Oregonian.

Bo's parents, members of a church that believes in the sole reliance upon prayer for healing, did not seek medical attention for his diabetes. His death sparked a long legal debate on whether or not the couple could have been brought to trial on homicide charges, illustrating the legal conflict between a parent's religious freedom and a child's right to life. If the bills become law, Oregon lawmakers will have effectively decided that the state must intervene when God does not.

United Nations v. The Vatican: Contraceptive Crisis in the Balkans
In response to reports of the systematic rape of ethnic Albanian women in Serbian army camps, the United Nations Population Fund began providing emergency reproductive health kits to the refugees. The kits contain equipment to deliver babies without medical facilities, pictorial instructions, and a variety of contraceptives—including the infamous "morning after" pill.

The Associated Press reports that the UN's announcement was followed by a strongly worded statement from Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Opposing the aid, the Monsignor called the pill a "real abortion technique." When reporters raised questions about the distribution of contraceptive pills to nuns in the Congo in the 1960's, the Vatican official rejected any comparison, describing the Church's action in the Congo as a "legitimate defense."