Urgent DC Bill Update

The DC bill allowing minors to consent to vaccination without their parent’s knowledge or consent, the bill that would keep any knowledge of the vaccination from the child’s parents even long after the fact, has finally been delivered to the desk of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.

If you live in the District, we would ask that you call the Mayor’s office today and urge her to veto the bill, DC 23—171. You can call her office at (202) 727-2643 or email eom@dc.gov.

Background

Bill DC 23-171 passed the DC Council on second reading on November 20 by a vote of 10-3. We do not know why its delivery to the mayor’s office was delayed by two weeks, but we understand this is not unheard of under the current leadership.

Regardless of the reason for the delay, it has helped us prepare to battle the bill in Congress. And a veto of the bill, even if it is ultimately overridden by the Council, would result in even more time to recruit the congressional champions we need to ultimately halt this terrible idea.

And that’s if the veto is overridden. From first reading to second reading, the vote already improved from a 12 to 1 majority to only a 10 to 3 majority. If only two more votes could be swayed by our efforts—to an 8 to 5 vote—the majority would no longer be sufficient to override the veto.

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.

This scheme is designed to keep the child’s parents in the dark about the vaccine permanently and would keep the child’s family physician just us much in the dark as the parents are. How can any parent take proper care of their child in that situation?

Take Action

If you live in DC, please call Mayor Bowser’s office today at (202) 727-2643 and urge her to veto DC 23-171.

If you do not live in DC, stay tuned. Unless a veto is successful and the Council fails to override it, we anticipate having to fight this bill through a congressional veto resolution in the coming weeks. At that point we will all have a part to play in making that effort a success.

Thank you for standing with us to protect children by empowering parents to make the best medical decisions for their family!

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Executive Director