Vaccination Without Parent Knowledge Bill's Opposition Growing from Catholics for the Common Good

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Vaccination Without Parent Knowledge Bill's Opposition Growing
the bill which permits 12 year old children to give consent, without their parents' knowledge, for vaccines or other medication to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, was surprisingly pulled from the Senate floor July 7 and referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. A new hearing has been scheduled for August 15.

This move is no doubt in response to letters and phone calls of opposition flooding state senators' offices as the awareness of this sinister bill is increasing all over the state. Because the bill was crafted to avoid key words used in such medical legislation, organizations like the National Vaccine Information Center, a watch-dog group that is concerned with educating the public on problematic vaccines, was completely unaware of the bill, as were a number of other interested groups. Thanks to CCG's outreach efforts, these organizations are now becoming actively engage.
Bill's Author Responds to CCG on Pharmaceutical Blog

The fact that the California Catholic Conference and CCG have been leading the way on this bill has come to the attention of the pharmaceutical trade press. An article in the award winning pharmaceutical trade blog Pharmalot quoted CCG and gave credence to arguments of an end run that drug companies and providers are trying to make through this bill. They will profit from by-passing parents and coercing children into receiving the vaccines for certain STDs. The article is linked to others reporting how similar efforts have backfired in the past.

The bill's author, Toni Atkins of San Diego, apparently felt she needed to respond but did so in a most disingenuous way. She indicated that she was approached to author the bill by the American College of Gynecology (ACOG), not the drug company Merck, the manufacturer of controversial vaccine Gardasil. Some of the readers of the blog called her on this fact by pointing out that Merck had given almost $500,000 in funding to ACOG last year and another $100,000 in the first quarter of 2011. In an effort to dismiss the critical issue of parents' rights and a child's right to the counsel of her parents on grave matters concerning health, Atkins then responded a second time by saying that Catholic opposition to the bill was really just an extension of our opposition to abortion and "reproductive health of women".

Talking points, extensive background, my testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, and a copy of the letter that CCG sent to members of the Judiciary Committee are available for your reference.

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