New California Laws Further Restrict Parental Rights on Vaccines

NHFA Decries the passage of SB 276 and SB 714, a serious blow to parental decision making and human rights!

In 2015, when California Legislature passed SB277, (a bill that removed the personal belief exemption for parents who choose to decline vaccines required for school or day care attendance), NHFA took a passionate health freedom leap and made a firm commitment to support leaders in California going forward to repeal the infringements on their parental and human rights. 

Now, on September 9, 2019, California legislature once again passed an egregious infringement on freedom for Californians: SB276, and its trailer bill SB714.  And NHFA continues to voice our concerns and offer our support.  The new law is designed to jeopardize the freedom of parents and doctors to obtain even a medical exemption for their vulnerable children.  The bills will negatively impact parents and doctors who are committed to protecting vulnerable children from harm by declining medically contraindicated vaccines. 

The group that launched and that NHFA has mentored and supported since the passage of the 2015 SB277,  California Health Coalition Advocacy nonprofit (CHCA), is a strong voice in the California health freedom movement.   CHCA works to collaborate with other leaders and organizations across the state to build a strong coalition of voices to protect all health freedoms.  CHCA’s focus and lobbying in Sacramento this past year has contributed greatly to expanding the conversations around bills that impact health freedom and in particular about vaccines and the importance of personal choices and close relationships with family Physicians in decision-making regarding vaccines.  If you live in California join them in their efforts.

When the historic 2015 bill passed, it passed despite strenuous opposition from parents and groups concerned about vaccine risks and the loss of parental rights. But at that time the proponents maintained that parents would still have an option for a medical exemption at the professional discernment of their physician, if a child was at risk for vaccine injury. 

However, on September 9, 2019, the California legislators back tracked on their promise and passed an even more serious infringement on the personal rights of Californians with SB276, and SB714.  The new law threatens to put physicians in legal jeopardy if they recommend medical exemptions outside of the very narrow parameters of the CDC, ACIP, or AAP criteria for  medical exemptions.  It is expected that the new law will drastically decrease the number of children who can utilize the medical exemption protection because of the legal stranglehold within the language of the bills that will be put on Physicians who are working to do what is best for their patients.

Yet a broader issue in this entire unfolding is at the core of the power shift in California: the proper role of government in the lives of citizens.  The law attempts to have the state of California in numerous circumstances be the final authority on whether a medical exemption is valid and can be used by a family.  This is instead of using the opinion of the parents and the primary care Physician.  The law will usurp the physician patient relationship of trust and medical competence and advice that parents depend on for their unique family medical concerns and history.

The concept that the government of California can now mandate the injection of drugs into children’s bodies before a child can take advantage of public or private school or day care is a complete offense to personal freedom.  Requiring parents to agree to this, or suffer the loss of ability of their child to attend school or day care, is an unacceptable overreach of government power, an intrusion into concepts of informed consent and the sacredness of the human experience, and an infringement on parental rights and the importance of the doctor-patient relationship.

National Health Freedom Action stands irrevocably for the right of all parents to make the choice to accept or decline vaccinations for their children.  We stand for the importance of every state to protect religious and conscientious belief exemptions on vaccinations and any other medical treatment, and the importance of doctors being free to follow their judgment and their conscience in writing medical exemptions for vulnerable children.  All of these personal medical decisions must be honored in our communities.

NHFA noted that legislative proponents of SB276, when confronted with infringing on personal choice, made the comparison to their decision to mandate seat belts in order to protect children from injury.  However, NHFA contends that requiring injections into the body is much different than restraints and is a severe intrusion of a person’s humanity.

The freedom to decide personal health issues for ourselves and for our children is as basic as the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and all of the freedoms protected by our Constitution.  The right to be free from unwanted medical treatments and to have informed consent regarding any medical treatment has been articulated by the universally adopted health freedom principles expressed in the Nuremburg Code.  Informed consent was defined as a human right in 1945 and is a guiding principle of ethics in medicine.  Threatening loss of access to an education unless a child is fully vaccinated according to CDC guidelines is coercion and breaks the International Nuremburg Code for true informed consent.

The California citizens who have thronged the Capitol in Sacramento to voice their objections are often parents who have vaccinated their loved ones as recommended, and were shocked when their children became permanently injured.  Many others are parents who simply wish to space out vaccines, or skip one or more vaccines.  Many other protesters are simply people recognizing the crucial importance of the basic human right of having a say about chemicals being injected into their bodies or their children’s bodies. 

To tell all parents that they must risk sacrificing their children for the good of the whole is ignoring their right to be responsible for the livelihood and survival of their child.  It is denying the agony that many parents have already experienced in seeing their children harmed by a vaccine.  And it is denying the vast body of knowledge that is available to promote the total health of the community.

National Health Freedom Action will continue to work in California with CHCA and with citizens and groups that are working tirelessly to protect and honor their personal freedoms.  We will not give up until Californians’ freedom to make their own decisions about their health has been returned. 

California SB276 and AB714 have set an unbelievable precedent in government and pharmaceutical influence in the suppression of individual human rights.  Now more than ever, it is essential that the people’s voice be heard.

If you have not yet gotten involved in the movement to protect health freedom in your state, it is time.  Stay tuned for action alerts from National Health Freedom Action to educate your state legislators on this crucial issue! 

“The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved, as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision.” Nuremberg Code, 1947