Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter

The case of 6 week-old Joel Anaya being seized from his nursing mother’s arms piqued the interest of “the nation’s most listened to radio host.”

Rush Limbaugh featured the Anaya case on his October 30, 2007 morning update.

Rush’s Morning Update: Seized!
October 30, 2007

Six weeks ago, a Nebraska couple became first-time parents. However, their religious beliefs ran afoul of a Nebraska law requiring all newborn infants to receive a mandatory blood test to screen for several diseases. They refused the test. So sheriff’s deputies seized the newborn, allowed health workers to draw and screen the blood — then placed the infant into foster care for almost a week, waiting for the results.

According to a Department of Health and Human Services spokes-babe, this was the first time in Nebraska that an infant has been seized. While other states have similar laws on the books, four states — South Dakota, Michigan, Montana, and Nebraska — don’t offer religious exemptions.

The baby tested okay, and is now back home with the parents. But the parents’ attorney, Jeff Downing, says it’s “a classic case of the government overreaching and violating a family’s constitutional rights.” Although the family isn’t seeking damages — they want to ensure this won’t happen again.

Put aside for the moment whether you agree or disagree with the parents on blood tests. What oughta chill you to the bone is what this incident represents. If government officials won’t hesitate to seize a newborn — imagine what they’ll do with you … should you make a decision they don’t like.

The more power you cede to the government over your health care, the less freedom you and your family have — over your own health, and your own life.

Keating, O’Gara’s Jeff Downing, attorney for the Anaya family, was then interviewed in depth by Rush during the second hour of his program:

RUSH: To the phones, Lincoln, Nebraska. Jeff, thanks for the call, sir. It’s nice to have you here.

DOWNING: Rush, Cornhusker dittos from the reddest of the red states.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

DOWNING: It just so happens, Rush, that I heard the Morning Update this morning, and it’s one of my cases that you had an outstanding commentary on.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

DOWNING: Well, it regards the Nebraska Newborn Screening Program, one of our Nanny State provisions in the law which requires that babies have a heel stick, and five drops of blood are put on some paper, and then the state screens for one of eight inherited metabolic genetic disorders.

RUSH: Such as…?

DOWNING: Such as things like a PKU, cystic fibrosis, hemoglobinopathy, like sickle cell diseases, and so on. These are things which are inherited. They’re incredibly rare, usually one in 10,000, one in 30,000, but nonetheless, our state — along with most other states — have these mandated screening programs. Unfortunately, Nebraska doesn’t have an opt-out provision, and so I, unfortunately, had some clients who, in declining doing the newborn screening after a home birth, were the victim of the Nanny State run amok.

RUSH: Yeah, let me briefly tell the story here because who we’re talking to, you’re Jeff Downing, correct?

DOWNING: Correct.

RUSH: You’re the parents’ attorney.

DOWNING: That’s right.

RUSH: The parents’ — I guess it’s for religious reasons?

DOWNING: Yeah, exactly.

RUSH: Decided that they didn’t want the screening done on their child, and so the state came in and took the kid.

DOWNING: Exactly.

RUSH: The state came in, took the child and tested anyway and put it in foster care, an infant, for a week!