by Barbara Loe Fisher
Every mother has had the nightmare. We dream our child, who we love more than we thought we could love anyone, has been taken away by strangers and cannot be found. The cold fear rises up from our stomach into our throats as we search, endlessly, to find the child we would give up our own life to protect from harm.
The biological imperative for parents to protect their young is stronger than the law of any nation. It is stronger than any value or belief. It is primitive and hardwired into a mother’s DNA because it is the fierce protective instinct that enables intelligent life on earth to survive.
Historic Power Struggle: Doctors vs. Parents
The debate about vaccination in the 21st century is not just about the science and whether vaccines and vaccine policies are a safe and effective way to keep individuals and populations truly healthy.[1], [2]
It is also part of an historic power struggle between parents and doctors about whether doctors or anyone else in society should have the legal right to give children a pharmaceutical product or medical treatment that carries a risk of injury or death without the parent’s voluntary, informed consent.[3], [4], [5]
CA Bill Strips Informed Consent Rights from Parents
Today, there is a bill on the desk of California Governor Jerry Brown (Assembly Bill 499)[6] that has been quietly and quickly rammed through the state legislature by the medical-pharma lobby.[7]
If Governor Brown signs that bill into law, then children as young as 12 years old will be vaccinated with Gardasil, hepatitis B and future vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
Merck & Pharma Profit
This proposed law would cost the cash-strapped state of California multi-millions of dollars to implement. Most of that money will go to Merck and other vaccine corporations to pay for multiple doses of each vaccine that will be aggressively promoted[8], [9] to young children, who are not yet physically, mentally or emotionally mature enough to make fully informed decisions about risk-taking, including whether or not to take a medical risk.[10], [11], [12]
This proposed law gutting parental informed consent rights is great news for drug companies like Merck, which sells Gardasil to the government for $108 per dose,[13] but it is very bad news for parents.
Parents Legally Responsible for Secretly Vaccinated Children
What if a 12 year old child is biologically at high risk for having a life threatening vaccine reaction but the parent is not told the child has been vaccinated and does not watch for symptoms and the child’s reaction ends in permanent disability?[14], [15]
Will the person, who has secretly given the vaccine to the child without the parent’s knowledge, be legally responsible for what happens if the child has a serious reaction?
Will the drug company that sold the vaccine to the state be legally responsible for the physical harm done to a secretly vaccinated child?
No. The parent will be legally and financially responsible for caring for the child,[16] who was taken by strangers and vaccinated without the parent’s consent, and is now brain damaged for life.
No Liability for Drug Corps or Doctors
In America, there is no legal liability or responsibility for drug companies selling or doctors giving government recommended vaccines when those vaccines injure or kill children or adults.[17], [18]
How can the state of California - or any state - give anyone in society the power to secretly take a child away from a parent and subject that child to a medical risk without the parent’s consent?
There is no doctor, no government employee and no politician, who has the moral right to do that to a parent or their child.
When Parental Rights Are Lost, Children Are Exploited
This California legislation that was pushed through the state legislature by pharmaceutical and medical industry lobbyists, will strip parents of the long held legal right to make informed, voluntary decisions about pharmaceutical products and medical procedures that carry risks for their children.
That fundamental legal right is all that stands between parents and exploitation of their children by those in positions of power in society with a personal or professional vested interest in forcing every child to use pharmaceutical products that are not safe or effective for every child.
Wake Up Call for Parents In All States
This is a wake-up call for parents in all states. If politicians can vote to strip parents of their legal right to exercise informed consent to medical risks taken by their children in California, it can happen in your state, too.
If young children can be secretly vaccinated for sexually transmitted diseases without their parents consent today, it will not be long before all babies and children can be secretly vaccinated with every government recommended vaccine without their parents’ consent tomorrow.
CA Parents: Your Children Are Being Taken
Join NVIC’s vaccine choice Advocacy Portal. Stand up for your legal right to make informed, voluntary decisions about medical risk taking for your child today or you will not have that legal right tomorrow.
California parents: NVIC has issued a California Action Alert about Assembly Bill 499 at www.NVICAdvocacy.org.
Let Governor Brown know how you feel about your children being taken from you.
See NVIC Action Alert for California here.
REFERENCES
[1] National Vaccine Information Center. NVIC Statement on Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality, IOM Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines. Aug. 25, 2011.
[2] Stratton K, Ford A, Rusch E, Clayton EW, editors. Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality. Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines. National Academies Press: 2011.
[4] Parental Right to Refuse Medical Treatment in Mother Doe & Father Doe vs. Anthony Conyers, Jr., Commissioner of VA Dept. of Social Services and Sarah C. Snead, Director of Chesterfield Dept. of Social Services and VA Governor Mark E. Warner. Re: Liberty Interest. June 17, 2005.
[7] Cochran S. CA AB499 Nixes Parental Consent for Gardasil Shots Given to Preteens. Yahoo News. Aug. 24, 2011.
[9] Rothman SM, Rothman DJ. Marketing HPV Vaccine: Implications for Adolescent Health and Medical Professionalism. JAMA 2009; 302(7): 781-786.
[10] McCabe MA. Involving Children and Adolescents in Medical Decision Making: Developmental and Clinical Considerations. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 1996; 21(4): 505-516.
[11] Oswalt A. Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. Child Development Theory: Adolesence. MentalHelp.net. Nov. 17, 2010.
[12] Dartmouth College. Press Release: Brain changes significantly after age 18, says Dartmouth research. Feb. 6, 2006.
[16] Virginia Office of the Attorney General. Family Relationships and the Law. Accessed Sept. 1, 2011
[18] NVIC. Press Release: NVIC Cites “Betrayal” of Consumers by U.S. Supreme Court Giving Total Liability Shield to Big Pharma. Feb. 23, 2011.
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