Activist and author Cyrus Krohn appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss H.B. 2288, which is currently in committee in Washington State. It deals with the establishment of school-based health centers. This bill will provide easy access to confidential physical and mental health services that children aged 13 and older can access without their parents’ consent.
The age of consent for obtaining health care services was lowered to 13 in a bill that went into effect in January of 2020. According to the fact sheet from the Washington State Health Care Authority:
According to Washington law, a minor who is 13 years old or older may initiate an evaluation and treatment for outpatient and/or inpatient mental health services, substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, or withdrawal management without parental consent. The minor has the right to receive services in the least restrictive setting. A youth is admitted for inpatient treatment only if the professional in charge of the facility concurs with the need for treatment and the youth meets criteria for this level of care.
When you review the fact sheet, it appears the only time a health care professional is required to inform a parent is if a child refuses inpatient treatment when it is required. In practice, the mental health interventions referenced in the document cover a wide range of services. According to World Watch:
Since January, children in Washington state ages 13 and up can obtain confidential treatment for mental health conditions and gender dysphoria using their parent’s insurance plan—without their parents’ consent.
Now, the state is considering a bill to set up health clinics on middle and high school campuses. Parents fear these clinics will talk children into dangerous and irreversible medical treatments such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to make their bodies look more like the opposite sex.“
This bill would allow a child to make an appointment during the school day, and Mom and Dad would never know about it,” said Jennifer Heine-Withee, a mother of three who runs Washington Parents Rights in Education.
Obviously, for younger teens who need to access these services in the community, rather than during the school day, there is a higher likelihood they would need their parents’ support. If H.B. 2288 passes, these services will be readily available during the school day. There are some benefits to this type of access. Provision for required immunizations, annual and sports physicals, and illness during the school day are all examples.
However, easy access to birth control, abortion, puberty-blockers, and hormones for children as young as 13 is unconscionable. Likewise, mental health treatment for other issues may involve medications. Many of the medications provided for depression and anxiety have the potential for dangerous side effects.
As an example, a specific class of antidepressants, called SSRIs, can lead to an increase in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in children and adolescents. Placing a child on a drug like this without parental consent or notification is not just irresponsible, it is dangerous.
Add this to the fact that Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee signed a comprehensive sex-education curriculum into law in March 2020. According to LifeSite News, a program called 3R meets the program criteria set out in this legislation. The curriculum shows that the program begins teaching the concept of gender in kindergarten and introducing reproduction in 1st grade.
LifeSite adds additional details:
[Katy] Faust reviewed the educational materials that comply with the bill and identified numerous alarming passages, including references to “devout Catholics” and “pretty conservative” households supposedly leaving their kids ignorant about sex, highlighting “bathing together” and “mutual masturbation” as activities with “no risk” for sexually-transmitted diseases, and references to 12-year-olds using condoms.
Other messages contained in state-approved material, she says, include instructions on bondage and “body fluid play,” how males can allegedly have babies and why they should be allowed on girls’ sports teams, and how to obtain abortions, cross-sex hormones, and HPV vaccinations without parental involvement.
