Legislative Efforts

 Drawing of Chris's shoes by Chris 2007 
Parental Rights Hold in MD in 2023
but
Real Informed Consent is Shut Down

The 2023 Maryland Legislative session ended at midnight on April 10th, 2023. On The Highwire in late March, Health Choice Maryland was recognized  for its success in helping to defeat SB378 the Minor Consent bill, which was withdrawn by the sponsor. HCM also succeeded in helping to defeat SB372, the bill which would have allowed pharmacists to vaccinate children without parental consent.

The informed consent bill for the HPV vaccines, HB1161, (subtitled Christina’s Law) would have required that consumers be given additional important, science-based information for true informed consent as is required by law and the Nuremberg Code. 

 Although it did not move out of Committee, we received a beautiful letter from the House of Delegates thanking us for our efforts and “the huge outpouring of support” which was very impactful. Our efforts were not in vain as they wrote:

The valuable information about the dangerous side effects stopped any mandate from being introduced.”

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Citizens in Syracuse, New York protested HPV vaccination mandates with the billboard showing Maryland citizen, Christina Tarsell who was one of hundreds who died from HPV vaccinations

Appalling, Pharma-driven legislation forced on states

Bills in New York in 2019 sought to 1. Allow children 14 and older to consent to be vaccinated without parental consent or knowledge., 2. Mandate HPV vaccines for all minors 3. Mandate reporting of adult vaccination to the registry without consent, 4. Mandate flu vaccination for school and day care attendance 5. Mandate vaccines for employees working in children’s camps, to name just a few. 

Similarly, on December 16, 2019, the New Jersey Senate narrowly postponed voting on a bill that would have eliminated religious and, in effect, medical exemptions to vaccinations and would have allowed vaccination without parental consent in schools, especially the HPV vaccine. The citizens of New Jersey showed up by the thousands at the state capitol to protest and hold the line in defense of their rights. They celebrate that success as seen here: https://www.facebook.com/jermy.maylin.3/videos/167214361348341

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If these types of bills are passed, what does it mean for you? It means that legislators, not parents, are making medical decisions about your child possibly even without your knowledge or consent. It means that there may be no exemption from vaccination even if one or one’s sibling suffered a previous vaccine related injury. It means that your children would be denied an education unless they complied with the mandated vaccines regardless of your beliefs regarding vaccination based on your religious convictions. It means that adults working in certain settings could be denied employment for exercising their right to choose what is injected into their bodies. It means that you alone bear the burden of any injuries or deaths incurred by vaccines which the Institute of Medicine has determined are “unavoidably unsafe.” It means that you lose the fundamental right of sovereignty over your own body and your parental rights. 

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The efficacy of Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer has never been validated. Post-licensure monitoring of Gardasil as required by law to verify clinical benefits of the HPV vaccine has not occurred. This has prompted concerned citizens, including this writer, to draft letters to senior scientists in the government. (1) Citizen  demands that government regulators comply with the law and immediately implement an effective monitoring program to reassure the public that we are not receiving HPV vaccination for no confirmed benefit have been ignored. Indeed, there have been nationwide Pharma backed efforts to mandate HPV vaccination for minors even without parental consent or knowledge as noted above. Pharma efforts have succeeded in California and more recently Washington D.C.  despite massive protests and demonstrations by citizens.

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As incredible as it may seem, Gardasil injections for sixth grade girls are mandatory in California and Washington, D.C. Coalitions of concerned citizens testified in April, 2010 at the District's Finance Committee hearings. Among those giving testimony opposing mandatory Gardasil vaccinations and supporting freedom of choice and informed consent were representatives from www.noHPVshots4me.com , representatives from NVIC, as well as other groups and private citizens. This citizen's statement is attached below. (2).  However, the DC Finance Committee passed the bill with complete disregard for opposing testimony from the public.

 More recently, in December 2020,  DC has gone further and now passed a bill that allows minors as young as 11 to consent to any recommended vaccination without their parents' knowledge — if a physician determines the child is capable of giving informed consent. (3)

It also prohibits insurers from sending an explanation of benefits to the parents, and it requires a physician to submit the immunization record directly to the minor's school "if the parent is utilizing a religious exemption or is opting out of receiving the Human Papillomavirus vaccine," according to the legislation. 

The bill had been vehemently opposed by parental and activist groups who agree with activist Kymone Freeman,


"The state is attempting to exert parental control without parental responsibility."


The bill still must be reviewed and accepted or revoked by Congress, which has until the end of January 2021 to act.

You are encouraged to contact your legislators and to join your respective state grassroots organizations such as www.HealthChoiceMaryland.org  or your state chapter of Health Choice.org to be informed of legislative threats in your state and to collaborate with other concerned citizens to take legislative action.

Let your voice be heard

(1). A Letter to Dr. Markowitz requesting immediate implementation of reliable post-licensure monitoring of Gardasil.        Response letter from Dr. Markowitz           Counter response to Dr. Markowitz-evidence lacking

(2).  Statement presented April 21, 2010 by Emily Tarsell before the Washington D.C.Finance Committe

(3). https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/943205

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In Maryland, in February, 2010, Representative Wade Kach sponsored House Bill 411. This bill extended the sunset date for the Statewide Vaccine Advisory Committee and added a consumer representative to the committee. In addition, there was a provision to mandate state-wide public hearings on Gardasil as a precursor to a report to be sent to the Governor. The purpose of the hearings would have been to determine if consumers were being adequately informed of the risks and benefits of Gardasil. While HB411 passed, this important mandate was stripped from the bill.