A substantial minority of Americans have religious beliefs against one or more medical treatments. Some groups promote exclusive reliance on prayer and ritual for healing nearly all diseases. Jehovah’s Witnesses oppose blood transfusions. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren have religious or conscientious exemptions from immunizations. Such exemptions have led to personal medical risk, decreases in herd immunity, and outbreaks of preventable disease. Though First Amendment protections for religious freedom do not include a right to neglect a child, many states have enacted laws allowing religious objectors to withhold preventive, screening, and, in some states, therapeutic medical care from children. Religious exemptions from child health and safety laws should be repealed so that children have equal rights to medical care.

中文翻译：

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基于信仰的医疗忽视：针对提供者和政策制定者


相当少数美国人有宗教信仰，反对一种或多种医疗方法。一些团体提倡完全依赖祈祷和仪式来治愈几乎所有疾病。耶和华见证人反对输血。数十万学童因宗教或良心原因而免于免疫接种。这种豁免导致了个人医疗风险、群体免疫力下降以及可预防疾病的爆发。尽管第一修正案对宗教自由的保护不包括忽视儿童的权利，但许多州已颁布法律，允许宗教反对者拒绝为儿童提供预防性、筛查性的服务，在某些州还包括治疗性医疗服务。应废除儿童健康和安全法的宗教豁免，以便儿童享有平等的医疗保健权利。