Planck V. Indiana :: essays research papers

Planck v. Indiana     In the reviewing the case of Planck v. Indiana, many complicated issuesarise. Included in those, individual rights hostile with the public goodare among the most difficult. According to Mr and Mrs. Plancks attorney, JohnPrice, the Plancks religious beliefs prohibit them from accepting professionalmedicament practice, as they practice alternative medicine and home school theirchildren. After a complaint from an older Planck daughter, who did not embraceor respect her familys lifestyle, the state was called in to investigate thehealth of the Planck children. In a preliminary check by the state of Indianafor eyesight, Lance Planck was found not to be in need of any service. Despitethis finding, the capital of Wisconsin County Superior Court ordered that all of the Planckschildrens eyes be examined by the state. One month after the Court orderedthis, twenty armed officers with guns pinched came to the Plancks residence andcommanded Mr. and Mrs . Planck to give up their children. Mr. Planck told theofficers that he did not know why they were there, was pushed to the ground andhad fill up rifles pointed at him. The children were then forcibly removed fromtheir parents custody, and at no time was any identification shown by theofficers. Curt, Lance Plancks younger brother, resisted this removal from hishouse, and was threatened by an officer that he would be "dragged out of here."After this scene, Emily, Stephen, and Curtis Planck were loaded into a van anddriven to an eye doctor in Anderson, Indiana. The examining doctor, Dr. JosephWoschitz, came to the conclusion that no treatment was needed for any of thechildren. How can the state justify this vitrine of behavior? Is ripping a childunwillingly from his mothers arms in the best interest of the public good?What does society have to benefit from this? In short, this does not affect thepublic good per se, but does affect the Plancks and any other family thatpractic es a religion that is not widely accepted.     Following the above events, Mr. and Mrs. Planck were later onarrested, had their First Amendment rights violated, and had their home invadedby armed SWAT team members who fired a CS tear gas canister into their house.Simply, Mr. and Mrs. Planck and their children were targeted by the stateselectively because of their religious beliefs which they manifested in homeeducation and the practice of alternative medicine. The fundamental argumenthere is that the Plancks rights have been violated, and the State of Indianahas overstepped its duty of caring for the Plancks children.