On July 1st, 2024, SB 1329, called the “Parental Rights in Medical Decision-Making Act,” went into effect in Idaho. This bill amends Idaho law to require parental consent for most health care services to minors, and parental access to minors’ medical records, with only narrow exceptions. The bill defines “healthcare” as “for the diagnosis, screening, examination, prevention, treatment, cure, care, or relief of any physical or mental health condition, illness, injury, defect, or disease.” Because of this strict definition, a crucial service that was restricted by the bill is the 988 Suicide Hotline. Under this bill, operators of the suicide hotline in Idaho cannot move forward with counseling a minor without explicit consent from a parent.
According to Idaho 988 Director Lee Flinn, “in most situations, the minor hangs up because they tell us they feel like they can’t do that.”
The bill does provide an exception to the rule. If a healthcare provider “reasonably determines that a medical emergency exists and furnishing the health care service is necessary to prevent death or imminent, irreparable physical injury to the minor child”, then they can move forward with counseling the minor. However, this law works in other ways to prevent this by holding health care providers strictly liable. Under the bill, parents can sue healthcare providers or government entities that they perceive to violate these parental rights, and can “recover declaratory relief, injunctive relief, damages, and attorney’s fees.”
This means that if a Suicide Hotline crisis worker were to deem that a minor was in immediate danger, and move forward with counseling them, their parent can later sue the hotline for violating the law. The case would then go to court, where the healthcare worker would be forced to prove why they believed the child was at risk of death, or could potentially lose the lawsuit, costing them thousands of dollars. Because of this contingency with the law, there is no doubt that healthcare providers and crisis workers will be dissuaded from helping minors in crisis, because of the potential threat of a lawsuit by the parents. This will undeniably lead to the hotline turning away vulnerable minors who are in legitimate crises, which could very well lead to them taking their own life.
This bill is one of the most egregious violations of youth rights to have ever been allowed in the country. The passing of this law by an overwhelming majority within the Idaho congress depicts that the state values a parent’s control of their child more than that child’s own life. This decision is life threatening to any minor who has or will ever have suicidal tendencies. This law is a blatant attack on the medical autonomy of minors, and will only lead to a worsening mental health crisis and suicides that could have been prevented if this law were not in place.
Teen Mental Health Crisis – Why Youth Need Suicide Prevention
What makes this denial of essential liberties especially heinous is the fact that our country is currently in the midst of a suicide crisis that disproportionately affects young people at staggering rates. A 2024 CDC-MMWR report found that in 2021, suicide was the third leading cause of death among U.S. high school youth aged 14-18, with 1,952 suicide deaths, for a rate of about 9.0 per 100,000 in that age group. Along with this, data from the Yale School of Medicine shows that for ages 10-24, suicide deaths increased by 62% from 2007 to 2021, and suicide rates among preteens (8-12) have been drastically increasing as well. If you look at the data outside just deaths, the numbers are even more shocking. According to America’s Health Rankings, about 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year; around 10% actually attempted suicide.
Suicide, unfortunately, is a very real epidemic which has gripped youth at an unprecedented rate. One look at the statistics, and it’s easy to see how this Idaho law is a shocking breach of the principles meant to protect individuals. Imagine that out of that 22% of students who considered suicide, a large portion of them reached out to some form of outpatient crisis counseling, such as the suicide hotline. In those cases, the minor would have been able to receive the help they needed to pull them back from the brink of death—from becoming part of that 10% which actually did attempt to end their own lives. With the passing of this bill, that option is no longer on the table for most minors. In the absence of crucial help in a critical time they may go forward with the worst, and end up dead—all due to a government that values parental control more than young lives.
Teens Don’t Always Inform their Parents of their Mental Struggles
Now, in a perfect world where every suicidal adolescent informed their parents of their mental condition, this law wouldn’t be such a hindrance to their ability to find mental health treatment. However, this is blatantly not what happens in reality. A 2019 study by Jones and colleagues compared teens’ self-reported suicidal thoughts with what their parents reported. The agreement was low: about half of the parents were unaware their child had suicidal thoughts, and about three-quarters did not know their child had recurrent thoughts of death. This highlights how often parents are left in the dark, whether because adolescents don’t share or because parents miss the signs. Minors’ hesitancy to disclose their suicidal ideation to their parents is common and could be a result of various negative home situations (such as abuse or parental oppression) they are experiencing. Their ability or willingness to inform their parents about their suicidal tendencies should not have an impact on whether or not they are able to receive assistance and counseling in a time of crisis.
Along with this, a 2023 study by Choe and colleagues examined how comfortable adolescents felt about disclosing personal problems to caregivers. The researchers found that comfort with disclosure was a strong predictor of later suicidal ideation and behavior. Teens who felt they could confide in parents were less likely to go on to develop or continue suicidal thoughts. Those who did not feel comfortable were at higher risk. This study shows how teenagers who aren’t able to inform their parents about their suicidal state are often more vulnerable than those who are. More vulnerable adolescents are therefore more likely to attempt suicide, and should have every bit of access to mental health assistance as they can get.
However, this law specifically denies those young people access to counseling just on the basis that they don’t feel comfortable disclosing their mental state to their parents. In a crude way, Idaho’s law reflects that its government believes kids who are more open with their parents are more deserving of healthcare and mental health treatment, and therefore, more deserving of their suicide being prevented. Because of this, thousands of minors are being put into a situation where their ability to access lifesaving care is determined by their parents, who may be the reason for their troubled mental situation in the first place.
The suicide prevention hotline is a crucial resource in preventing suicide. According to a study by Gould et al, “The vast majority of callers (88.1%) reported that the call stopped them from killing themselves” to some degree. This data shows how imperative it is that people on the brink of suicide have access to this hotline. Young people in a time of crisis deserve to have free access to this life saving resource.
Parents as the Source of Suicidal Ideation
Another important hurdle within this law’s perfect world scenario is the fact that, in many circumstances, parents and family are the direct reason why a child has suicidal feelings. When I was interviewing one of my friends, Payton C, about this law, I asked her if she was in a situation where she was suicidal, would she ever feel comfortable talking about these feelings with her parents to ask for permission to use the suicide hotline.
She responded, “Honestly, they’d probably be the reason I’m calling. Having the stress of my parents wanting to know I’m doing that and them trying to pry and talk about it would push me to not seek help at all.”
Her input on the matter reflects this depressing struggle that countless kids are forced to live through. When their own parents are the ones causing their suicidal feelings, how should the government expect them to inform them of their mental condition? According to the Study: Why do adolescents attempt suicide? Insights from leading qualitative studies (Kirshenbaum et al., 2024), adolescents often report interpersonal distress, feeling like a burden on others, a lack of belonging (especially within family), and disappointment or failure as core motivators. In simple terms, one of the major causes for suicidal tendencies within adolescents is issues that arise within their families. So if a teenager is in a bad mental state due to struggles with their own family, the source of their distress are the last people they would want to discuss these mental challenges with.
Another major reason that adolescents attempted to take their own lives came from a response to trauma, or a distressing event such as abuse or sexual assault. Given that a large percentage of perpetrators of abuse and sexual assaults among children are members of that child’s own family, it makes things exceedingly clear why a minor would not want to inform their parent about their suicidal tendencies. In many situations, there could be children who are facing abuse at the hands of their parents, which directly leads to their suicidal thoughts, and subsequently their choice to contact the suicide hotline. Imagine the absolute devastation they would experience upon hearing that the only way for them to move forward with counseling in their time of crisis is to inform the very person responsible.
Because of these family issues that suicidal teens often face, this law makes it especially hard for them to receive the help they need at the time they need it most. This bill is blatantly discriminatory against children from troubled homes with parents who don’t actually care about their needs. The bill is meant to exist in a perfect world, where all parents have the best interests of their child at heart, and would do whatever they could to make sure that their mental health is the priority. However, this optimism is simply not the case, and in many circumstances, parents either completely disregard a child’s need for mental health treatment, or are the reason the child needs it in the first place. This is another example of politicians not having any respect for the personal freedoms of youth, and having zero connection to the issues that average people are forced to live through on a daily basis.
Along with this, Idaho is a predominantly conservative state. It is well documented that conservative adults tend to have less trust in therapy and mental health treatment in general, preferring to opt for a “just deal with it” mentality. If a child is unfortunate enough to have parents who impose these beliefs on them and are now reliant on their parents for access to mental health treatment, they have no way to access what they truly need.
Public Backlash
Recently, a post on X about the Idaho law went viral, leading to several people sharing their own personal stories.
In reaction to the post, X user @KShiely said, “In high school I told a classmate I was suicidal, they told the councilor, who, in turn, called my mom. When I got home, Cindy said I had nothing to be suicidal about and grounded me. I never talked to another person about it and refused to go to therapy for 30 years.”
This personal anecdote reflects a challenge that many teenagers from conservative homes face daily. When a child is forced to rely on parents like this, who have been given complete control of their medical autonomy, it can have long-lasting consequences on their mental health. When parents have no value for mental health or counseling, despite one desperately needing it, it is safe to say that one’s ability to receive it shouldn’t be in their hands. Her story blatantly shows how some parents have a complete disregard for their child’s well-being, and do not have their child’s best interests anywhere near their hearts. And although she was able to make it to the other side of her struggles, there are very many adolescents who are suffering from similar mental issues, fueled by their parents’ oppression, who may not make it out alive.
X User @OrganizerMemes responded with “I worked on a teen crisis hotline where we’d get calls from kids who’d already taken pills and changed their minds. Imagine if I had to wait to make sure their parents were ok with me calling paramedics it’d be losing valuable seconds. This is going to kill children.”
It is genuinely frightening to see this from the point of view of a crisis worker who has lived in the trenches of our country’s suicide epidemic. They know better than any of us the struggles that these troubled teenagers face, and they understand that this law will only harm troubled teens.
The backlash for this law seemed to be shared within the online community, as most posts responding to the law consisted of hard criticism.
X User @TheJoeyMama said, “This is wrong. Obviously the teens using the hotline don’t feel they can talk to their parents or other family This is going to make Idaho youth less safe when they’re in an existential crisis”
X User @sapphicnyra replied, “Imagine being abused by a parent and be so depressed you’re about to kill yourself and then call a suicide prevention hotline just to be told your abuser should be present. This might as well be the final strike for a suicidal kid or teen.”
The general consensus of the public seemed to be against this blatant disregard for youth rights, mental health, and safety. However, this bill was still passed due to lawmakers running on the following trigger phrase: “Parents’ Rights”. From an outside point of view, Parents’ Rights sounds like a good thing, but realistically, it is a major Trojan horse. At its core, Parental Rights are about control and about removing freedom and privacy from youth. Each action has an opposite and equal reaction. Whenever parents gain a “right,” that right is taken away from minors. And in most circumstances, the rights that parents are “gaining” are actually freedoms and privileges that belong in the hands of their children. This law is a perfect example of that effect; parents gain the right to have more control over their child’s medical decisions, taking that control away from the minors, where it rightfully belongs, just as for anyone.
Increasing Youth Rights means decreasing ‘Parental Rights’. Until the notion of “Parents’ Rights” over youth autonomy is completely dismantled from our society, youth can never be free from the systemic oppression and tyranny that seeks to remove their personal agency as individuals.
Resources
Full Legislative Text for SB 1329
The National Youth Rights Association on Medical Autonomy
Idaho’s parental consent law impedes 988 suicide crisis hotline access for some youth
The National Youth Rights Association
If you’re interested in Youth Rights, consider volunteering with us. We are always looking for new members and would love to have you on board. If you have a personal Youth Rights story to share, consider sending us an email at nyra@youthrights.org, and we’d love to help get your story out to the world.
The text of Idaho Law Prevents Minors from Accessing Suicide Hotline without Parent Consent © 2026 by Xillion is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
