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Accepting polygamy on the grounds of religious freedom would be an accommodation too far, and British Columbia is right to contemplate charging people in the polygamous community of Bountiful. But the main argument for a prosecution is to protect Bountiful's young people and women from exploitation, and so it is important that B.C. avoid the mistakes of Texas, which in trying to protect children in a polygamous community overstepped its authority and did more harm than good.

B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal, who seems intent on prosecuting polygamists in Bountiful, in southeastern B.C., says the experience in Texas has given him pause. And so it should. Texas said it had received a complaint to an abuse hotline from a 16-year-old girl - a complaint now believed to have been a hoax - that she was being abused by her 49-year-old husband in the polygamous Yearning for Zion compound. It responded by sweeping up more than 400 children, and separating them from their families, but its argument for doing so was tenuous. While claiming there was a "pervasive pattern of sexual abuse that puts every child at the ranch at risk," it offered no evidence of widespread abuse. A Texas appeals court said, justifiably, that removing children is an extreme measure that should be used only when danger is urgent or immediate. (The court did, however, put in protections for the children returning to their homes, including surprise visits by social workers.)

But the lesson is to avoid a moral panic, not to avoid prosecution. After years of ignoring Bountiful, the authorities should not try to overcompensate by making extreme child-protection claims. The facts currently in the possession of the authorities do not appear to justify such claims, according to a special prosecutor retained by Mr. Oppal last year. Richard Peck said B.C. could not make the case that Canadian sexual-exploitation laws were violated.

The community in Bountiful has bedevilled the province for years. In the 1990s, B.C.'s criminal-justice branch argued that the community could not be charged because of the religious-freedom protection in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That argument has been dismissed twice by special prosecutors hired by Mr. Oppal, but both recommended the issue be referred to the B.C. courts for an advisory ruling on whether the offence of polygamy is constitutional. He has now sought a third opinion. He is itching for someone to give him the green light to prosecute.

A prosecution may be a better way than a reference case to lay out the facts of Bountiful's day-to-day existence. In establishing harm to the vulnerable, those facts will help judges rule on whether barring polygamy is a reasonable limit to religious freedom. Still, if the overriding goal is to protect children and women, B.C. should ensure that whatever path it chooses accomplishes that goal without adding unduly to the harm done.