| October 11, 2011
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Preserve Parental Rights
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| Notes 1. Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979).
2. Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000).
3. Wagner, William, J.D. “Chapter Six: God, Government, and Parental Rights,” in Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children, Louise Kuo Habakus, M.A., and Mary Holland, J.D., editors, New York, 2011.
4. Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and South Dakota. Source: blogher.com accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
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| California Further Erodes Parental Rights In its 1979 Parham decision1 the U.S. Supreme Court held as a foundational principle of American law the “presumption that parents possess what a child lacks in maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment required for making life’s difficult decisions. More importantly, historically [American law] has recognized that natural bonds of affection lead parents to act in the best interest of their children.”
Unfortunately, that respect for parental rights is no longer the standard2 – and it eroded even further this past weekend when California governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB499 allowing children as young as 12 to make their own decisions regarding the Gardasil vaccine.
As constitutional law professor and former U.S. Magistrate Judge William Wagner warns in "God, Government, and Parental Rights," a chapter he wrote for the book Vaccine Epidemic, "the freedom of conscience and the sanctity behind parents directing the upbringing of their children no longer serve as moral benchmarks against which to measure whether government vaccination laws are right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust. Instead, parents are told that questions regarding vaccination laws are public policy matters for the government to decide."3
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) opposes Governor Brown’s decision to sign this law, which NVIC president Barbara Loe Fisher calls “a violation of parental rights and federal vaccine safety law.” In a press release, Fisher warns the law “is making it easy for big corporations and trade organizations, including doctors and drug companies protected from vaccine injury lawsuits, to exploit ordinary people to increase influence and profits.” That’s because the power to say “No” has been transferred from an experienced adult to an impressionable child.
California is not the first state to pass such a law – Arkansas, Alabama, South Carolina, and several other states4 allow minors to make such decisions without parental protection, and Minnesota has already lowered the bar to age 12 – and they will likely not be the last. It may be that your state has already taken that power away from you.
If they haven’t yet, it is likely they will. Progressive bureaucrats and special interest groups continue to push the notion that the government must make every decision, lest even one child fall victim to bad parenting.
In 1979, the Court called this mindset “repugnant to American tradition.” Children must be protected, but freedom must be protected, too.
Nevertheless, The American Academy of Pediatrics in California this weekend said “[We] support parental-teen communication, and in a perfect world, all youth would be able to speak openly with their parents or guardians about every health decision. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.”
So, does the existence of a few bad parents, a few difficult situations, justify the violation of the natural, longstanding rights of all fit parents? California has decided that it does. And if your state doesn’t already agree, they will likely be next.
Adoption of the proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution can restore the legal presumption that was the foundational standard in the Parham case. It can protect the natural right of fit parents to provide the love and wisdom needed in making medical decisions for their child.
Action Items As further erosion occurs, we must step up our efforts to turn back the clock on parental rights, to restore the standard that kept our children safe. Please visit parentalrights.org/documents and download a flier or Quiz that you can use to tell your friends and family about this crucial fight to defend the future of America. Spread the word, and urge everyone you know to sign the petition at parentalrights.org/petition.
Together, we can preserve the right of every current and future American child to be raised and represented by parents who love them, and not by disconnected doctors and government bureaucrats.
Sincerely,
Michael Ramey
Dir. of Communications & Research
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