Urgent: Call Congress to Oppose Minor Consent Bill

Please contact your congressmember and senators today and urge them to support SJRes. 7 and HJRes. 25, the joint resolution to veto DC Bill 23-171. Click here to reach out to your lawmakers through Voter Voice.

DC 23-171, the “Minor Consent for Vaccinations Act of 2020,” would allow 11-year-olds to give consent for vaccinations their parents have already declined. It also requires the vaccine provider and the child’s school to hide the child’s vaccination status from the child’s parent(s), even to the point that an insurer cannot send an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) listing the vaccination.

The bill was adopted in the district on December 23 when Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to veto it during her 10-day window to do so. It will take effect on  March 23 unless Congress passes a veto resolution in the next 30 legislative days.

Congressman Michael Cloud introduced HJRes 25 in the House on Thursday to veto the measure. Senator Mike Lee introduced matching resolution SJRes. 7 in the Senate.

Congress has only 30 legislative days to pass the resolution to keep the Minor Consent Bill from becoming permanent law in the capital, which would set a precedent many states could try to follow.

(Note: It can be a little confusing, but because the resolution is to veto the bill, we oppose the bill by supporting the resolution.)

Click here to reach out to your congressmembers through Voter Voice.

Background

DC Bill 23-171 allows minors to consent to vaccination without their parent’s knowledge or consent and would keep any knowledge of the vaccination from the child’s parents even long after the fact.

What this bill does:

• Permits children as young as 11 years old to give legal consent for vaccination if the vaccine is government approved and the parents have opted out of it for their child.
• Prohibits the administering medical provider from documenting the vaccine in the vaccination section of the child’s normal medical record.
• Requires the administering provider to submit the vaccination record directly to the child’s school.
• Prohibits the school from including this vaccination record with the rest of the child’s educational record.
• Prohibits the school from providing this information to the child’s parent.
• Prohibits any insurance provider from sending an Explanation of Benefits (or EOB) indicating the vaccination.

Children are best protected from harm when their parents, who know and love them best, are empowered to make informed decisions about their care. This scheme, on the other hand, is designed to keep the child’s parents permanently in the dark about the vaccine and would even keep the child’s family physician as much in the dark as the parents are.

How can parents take proper care of their child in that situation?

Please click here to contact your members of Congress through the Voter Voice system, and thank you for standing up to protect children by empowering parents to make the best medical decisions for their family!

Sincerely,

Jim Mason
President