In Idaho, parents who claim their faith prohibits lifesaving medical treatment for their children cannot be charged with child neglect or manslaughter. This legal protection was established during a comprehensive rewrite of Idaho’s criminal code in 1971, when the Legislature added a provision preventing the state from bringing endangerment charges against those who choose “treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone” for their children. Legislative records do not clarify how this exemption originated.

Historical documents reveal that prior to this change, it was illegal for parents in Idaho to forgo medical care in favor of prayer when a child's life was at risk. The 1887 Idaho territory statutes stated, “Every parent of any child who willfully omits, without lawful excuse, to furnish necessary food, clothing, shelter, or medical attendance for such child, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

The law was notably enforced against members of the Followers of Christ, a faith-healing sect that arrived in Idaho in 1899 and remains active. From 2015 to 2025, ProPublica’s reporting found that congregations of this sect in Idaho experienced 15 preventable child deaths.

A recent case involved the Annises, a family with 13 children living in a two-room shack, as reported by a local newspaper. After the death of one daughter, a judge ordered the state to take custody of her 10-year-old brother under Idaho’s child protection law.

By contrast, other states like Colorado reversed similar exemptions; in 2001, Colorado resumed prosecuting faith healers as any other parent following preventable deaths in the Church of the First Born, a sect adjacent to the Followers of Christ.

This shift in Idaho law reflects ongoing debates about religious freedom, child welfare, and state intervention.

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