By Legislative Liaison Carolyn Martin
Medical Freedom, Informed Consent, and Parental Rights
The use of homeopathic medicine is growing in the United States and across the world. Over the past several years, I have known several homeschool leaders who lost their battle with cancer and went home to be with the Lord. They chose to use a combination of alternative and conventional medicine. No one took them away from their families or forced chemotherapy on them.
Not so for parents who choose to treat their children’s illnesses with alternative treatments or who seek a second opinion to a doctor’s recommendation. Doing so puts their parental rights at risk. Increasingly, the medical community and government officials are playing the bully when it comes to parents making decisions for their children’s medical care. (See the Drake Pardo case for a recent example in Texas.)
God’s creation is so vast that we can never know everything there is to know about it. To think otherwise is arrogance. Whether we are talking about the intricacies of the immune system or the workings of our brain, our knowledge has only scratched the surface of how we are created.
Because of the vastness and variety of medical treatments available today, medical freedom and informed consent is vital. Nowhere is this more important than when parents are making decisions for their children.
The vaccine debate here in Colorado continues to rage even after the bill (HB19-1312) died last session. Although we retained the medical freedom to determine which vaccines our children get and when they get them, the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) is demanding strict adherence to the CDC schedule when it comes to foster and adoption families based solely on federal recommendations.
In Governor Polis’ latest proposed budget, he requested $2.5 million to educate parents this year on vaccinations. Unfortunately, the education modules used in the past don’t even come close to providing a balanced approach to the risks and benefits of vaccinations — a clear violation of informed consent.
Many parents are being thrown out of their doctor’s offices because they are exercising their right to direct the medical care of their children. Also, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to get medical exemptions even when children have experienced contraindications to vaccines in the past.
The battle over our liberties will continue in this upcoming session. If you want to get involved, join the Colorado Homeschool Freedom Team and sign up for my prayer emails where I’ll share specific prayer requests and action steps you can take. We currently have just under 300 families on this team, but we’ll need many more for the session ahead. (This is distinct from the CHEC blog subscription where these legislative updates are posted, like this email you are receiving.)
Are you using a vaccine exemption? Remember, the law does not require the usage of a state form. You are only required to sign a statement of exemption. Check out this form used by the CHEC Independent School. Note: If using it for a public school program, you may be asked to list the vaccines you are exempting.
Want to opt your child’s data out of the centralized state database CIIS? Follow the procedures on this page and make sure to let your child’s doctor know not to put their data in the system.
If you want to know more about vaccines, make sure to check out the resources found at the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).
Join me: Prayer Meeting at the Capitol
Tuesday, November 12th at 11 am, 3rd floor committee room. Please email me with any questions or to let me know you are coming.
Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin, CHEC Legislative Liaison
carolyn@chec.org
720.842.4852
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