URGENT: Forced Vaccination Precedent Being Set

SB439: URGENT HELP REQUIRED

A devastating new bill has been introduced in West Virginia. It is SB439, introduced by Senator Prezioso of Marion County and Senator Minard of Harrison County. SB439 has already passed the Senate HHR Committee on February 19, 2004. It is expected to pass the Senate floor and House committees next week.

As written, the bill will require that all children in West Virginia be vaccinated, whether they attend school or are homeschooled, with no recourse for exemptions. Homeschoolers in all 50 states have always been able to choose not to vaccinate. They either are exempt from mandatory vaccination required to attend school, and/or they are offered religious exemptions. This bill will make WV the first state in which homeschoolers
have no choice.

If passed, the bill will force all West Virginians who do not wish to vaccinate to move another state. It presents an unprecedented attack on parental choice and religious freedom. It is not only an insult to Free Mountaineers, but it treads on all rights we hold dear in America.

This bill will remove physicians' ability to exercise individual
judgment for their patients, by forcing them to grant medical exemptions for only "commonly accepted practices." This is tantamount to the government practicing medicine without a license.

SB439

- Eliminates medical exemptions where a physician can use individual judgment outside of "commonly accepted practice"
-Adds hepatitis B and chickenpox to the list of mandatory vaccines
-Require the use of new "certificates of immunization" to document vaccination history
-Increase penalties for noncompliance establishes "compelling
interest" for the state that supercedes individual choice.
-Homeschooling parents who do not vaccinate will be convicted of a misdemeanor and fined up to $500 each.

The bill reads:
Any parent or guardian who refuses to permit his or her child to
be immunized against the diseases enumerated in subsection (c) of this section, or who cannot give satisfactory proof that the child or person has been so immunized or who falsifies a child's immunization record is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars.

Write letters. Write press releases. Talk to local reporters about this very dangerous legislation that subverts our parental right to choose what is best for our children. Create such a media uproar that these politicians will not be able to ignore our voices any longer.

What can happen in one state, can happen in any state.

The time to act is now. With MEHPA and the Homeland Security Act, if the state or federal gov't declare a health emergency, we can be forced to take vaccinations or be quarantined or fined regardless of exemption. The time to stand up to protect our rights against mandatory vaccinations is now.

Ingri Cassel

Here is the text of the bill

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