UPDATE! WITHDRAWN! We’ve Done It Again!! ACTION ALERT: Please Ask Senator Kagan to WITHDRAW SB378 Which Would Allow Minors of ANY Age to Consent to Vaccination Without Parental Consent
Text of SB378: Public Health – Vaccinations – Minor Consent
Providing that minors who are at least 14 years old have the same capacity as an adult to consent to vaccination; authorizing minors under the age of 14 years to consent to vaccination under certain circumstances; and providing that the capacity to consent does not include the capacity to refuse vaccination for which a parent or guardian has given consent.
UPDATE 2/19/23: We are pleased to report this bill has been withdrawn by its sponsor!
Informed Choice Maryland placed considerable pressure on this bill this past week, and let it be known on Thursday, February 16th that we were prepared to bring in expert testimony at the hearing on Wednesday, February 22nd. Senator Kagan spontaneously withdrew the bill on Friday, February 17th. Thank you ICM members for your continued support and please let this serve as a reminder that your voice does count!
why icm OPPOSES SB378
ATTENTION MEMBERS: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CALL TO ACTION WE HAVE ISSUED TO DATE!
Please contact Senator Kagan immediately and explain in your own words why you believe she must withdraw this bill. The following points may be helpful:
- The fundamental premise of this bill is that minors aged 14 or in some cases younger have the same capacity as an adult to consent to vaccination. There is no evidence or data supporting this premise, and in fact, overwhelming evidence demonstrates the contrary. The Supreme Court ruled in 1979: “Most children, even in adolescence, simply are not able to make sound judgments concerning many decisions, including their need for medical care or treatment. Parents can and must make those judgments.”
- This bill asserts that minor children of potentially any age, including children with developmental disabilities, may have the ability to assess their own risk and the nuance of risk-benefit analysis with regard to their own health histories. However, the bill specifically states that these same minors do not have the capacity to refuse a vaccine. This premise is patently absurd and outrageous. This bill presents an unabashed attempt to usurp parental authority and the individual medical rights of children and their parents.
- Over 50% of children in the U.S., including Maryland, have a serious chronic health condition. One in sixty children in Maryland (2%) and 1 in 37 boys (3%) are on the autism spectrum. One in six children in the U.S. has a developmental disability and that number is rising. Healthcare providers administering medical procedures may not recognize these disabilities in high-functioning children with special needs. How can these children give consent to invasive medical procedures without parental guidance?
- This bill specifically asserts that these children, at any age, may be able to understand and give informed consent to vaccination without the capacity to fully understand personal risks. From the bill: "A minor under the age of 14 years, including a minor who is developmentally disabled or unemancipated, has the capacity to consent to vaccination if: in the opinion of the health care provider, the minor is of sufficient intelligence to understand and appreciate the need for, nature of, and the significant risks and consequences of the vaccination; and the minor is able to give informed consent."
- Only licensed psychiatrists and a select group of specifically trained and licensed pediatricians are medically qualified to diagnose autism spectrum disorders and other related developmental disabilities; only these providers are qualified to accurately assess the intellectual capacity of any minor child with regard to their ability to give informed consent. This assessment cannot be performed adequately in a single healthcare appointment by an appropriately licensed professional, much less any other healthcare provider licensed to administer vaccines. This bill would grossly violate fundamental medical ethics and the current standards of medical practice defined by AAP and APA.
- This bill would reinforce and extend blanket liability to healthcare providers who inappropriately administer vaccines without proper informed consent in the event of an adverse reaction or any damages. The profound and devastating consequences of vaccine injury will be the sole burden of the parents and children, while the decision to impose that harm will be solely in the hands of the healthcare providers with no liability for harm.
- Minor children are not legally allowed to vote, smoke, or consent to any other invasive medical procedure. These kids are not able to give fully informed consent, nor do they necessarily know the details of their own medical history. It’s inappropriate to place the burden of medical decision-making on minors at this age. If this precedent is set, what other medical decisions might the state take away from parents?
- The bill presents broad and open-ended language which would potentially allow any healthcare provider licensed to administer a vaccine to coerce children of any age and any capacity to consent to vaccination if the healthcare provider personally assesses the child to be competent, based on no defined criteria.
- This bill gives healthcare providers blanket authority to usurp parental decisions with blanket protection from liability. We must insist that the bill is withdrawn or live with the risk that if the bill is passed into law, our children are at constant risk of coercion whenever they're out of our sight.
Who to contact about SB378
There will be a hearing for SB378 before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, February 22 at 1:00 PM.
URGENT: At this time, we’re asking all members to contact bill sponsor Cheryl Kagan, and tell her, in your own words, why she must withdraw SB378!
Please contact the following bill sponsor to request that she withdraw this bill:
410-841-3134| 301-858-3134
Toll-free in MD 1-800-492-7122 ext. 3134
e-mail: cheryl.kagan@senate.state.md.us
Please note: Should this bill continue to progress toward a hearing, we will notify you and request that you email, call, and sign up for testimony at that time.
Please spread the word! Let’s flood the office of Senator Cheryl Kagan with polite, respectful, forceful emails and phone calls. She needs to hear our voices!
Please consider joining ICM’s free Telegram group where you’ll find like minds instead of arguments, as well as helpful resources for navigating vaccine data, mandates, exemptions and more.
Please withdraw SB378
Please reconsider this bill and remove your support.
Please withdraw SB378. Children are too young to make adult decisions.
Most children are not aware of the implications down the road FOR ANY DECISION… much less a HEALTH DECISION..
I AM LIABLE for my children till they reach age 18 years. I don’t even think at 18 they can make decisions well..
Tobacco and alcohol, you have to be 21 years old…
I feel that this bill is OVERSTEPPING PARENTAL RIGHTS … AND I BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS BEHIND THIS AGENDA !
If a minor is INJURED AS A RESULT IF THIS TYPE OF TOM FULLERY, who is RESPONSIBLE for the said minor if he’s medically injured?? The PARENTS… so leave this decision to the people that will be responsible…
Need I REMIND YOU, that Congress AND the house WORK FOR THE PEOPLE!
It is very disappointing to see that you are sponsoring SB378, a bill that rolls back Informed Consent for minors and opens the door to Medical Totalitarianism & pharmaceutical company profiteering.
I strongly oppose to this or any bill giving minors consent to vaccines without parental proper and informed consent! Respectfully submitted.
I oppose SB378 because it gives minors and developmentally disabled children authority to make decisions, regarding vaccines, that should be made by their parents. The harm done by vaccines will fall on the parents and children, and not on the healthcare provider, who coerced the decision. Please do what is right and withdraw SB378, returning the safety of children to their parents.
Cheryl, I request that you remove the presentation of this bill. “Minors” as defined as under the age of 18 who can legally vote yet can’t purchase alcohol are now given the opportunity to decide for themselves medical directions, absolutely insane. A bill passed of this sort will drastically effect the youth this is just the start of creating a culture of disobedience, a bill of this sort is nothing short of communism where government has all the right to all people and parents have no rights at all. You will drive many you g families fleeing from authoritarian state run governments like this.
Dear Senator Kagan,
Please withdraw SB378 from consideration before it gets to the Senate Finance Committee. My reason for requesting that this be done is rather quite simple. Children 14 years old, and up to the age of legal consent, are not capable of understanding the possible consequences of voluntarily allowing non-parental adults the opportunity to provide ANY drug to a child. This includes drugs that are considered to be legal. There is a very good reason for this. My son is married to a woman who has an 11 year old child. Although this child is outside the ‘consent age’ of 14 that this Bill proposes, this young man can make a very good case for why NO child should be allowed to consent to this. My daughter-in-law’s son is a cancer survivor. But, he is still considered to be in remission. Although he knows all about his cancer and all the treatments he has received over the years, he, and I can only imagine, most every child 14 years old, have no idea of the possible side effects or contraindications of drugs. Is the State of Maryland, and the Maryland counties, prepared to accept responsibility for the damage that could be done to a child who has no knowledge of how ANY drug may interact with these vaccines? Are the people who are pushing for children 14 and older to make the decision to get vaccinated, knowledgeable enough about a child to determine whether the child should or should not be vaccinated without consent of their parent/s? Who is going to make that decision, if not the parent. The very person/s who know their child best. Senator, please consider what is being proposed. If just one child is hurt, or God forbid, killed, the ramifications to that child’s family would be devastating. Do not let this Bill advance. It is dangerous and it could set and extremely harmful precedence. Respectfully,
Awesomely put! Thank You!
Seriously??? If they are old enough to make that decision… they are old enough to buy firearms, but booze, enlist….
Just throw ALL CAUTION TO THE WIND…
Not!!!
Be the adult in the room.
Please withdraw.
Dale Miller as a parent strongly oppose to this or any bill giving minors consent to vaccines without parental proper and informed consent!
Most children are not aware of the implications down the road FOR ANY DECISION… much less a HEALTH DECISION..
I AM LIABLE for my children till they reach age 18 years. I don’t even think at 18 they can make decisions well..
Tobacco and alcohol, you have to be 21 years old…
I feel that this bill is OVERSTEPPING PARENTAL RIGHTS … AND I BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS BEHIND THIS AGENDA !
If a minor is INJURED AS A RESULT IF THIS TYPE OF TOM FULLERY, who is RESPONSIBLE for the said minor if he’s medically injured?? The PARENTS… so leave this decision to the people that will be responsible…
Need I REMIND YOU, that Congress AND the house WORK FOR THE PEOPLE!
What I sent to the State Senator:
I don’t understand this bill at all.
“MADE WITHOUT COERCION BY ANY INDIVIDUAL;” – please explain where the CHILD would get information regarding which vaxx to take? I’m guessing our public school system.
(B) A MINOR AT LEAST 14 YEARS OLD HAS THE SAME CAPACITY AS AN ADULT TO CONSENT TO VACCINATION. If you agree that at the “mature” age of 14 they have the “same capacity as an adult”, they should be able to get a job, move out and provide for themselves. IF they have “same capacity as an adult” why don’t you introduce a bill that would allow a 14 year-old to purchase tobacco products, alcohol, a gun(s), a home loan, enlist in the military, have a job without permission from parents/school, drive a car, pilot a plane, etc.? FYI: A 17 year-old can’t have a dose of Tylenol without consent of a parent/guardian at school.
(D) THE CAPACITY OF A MINOR TO CONSENT TO VACCINATION UNDER THIS SECTION DOES NOT INCLUDE THE CAPACITY TO REFUSE VACCINATION FOR WHICH A PARENT OR GUARDIAN HAS GIVEN CONSENT. – If they have the “same capacity as an adult”, they can’t REFUSE a vaxx? You are talking out of both sides of your mouth! Either they can make the decision or they can’t – be consistent!!!
I only chose these three of your disgusting bill to question. This is just another power grab for our children! Are you being paid by big pharma for this piece of legislation?
Shame on you!
I oppose this bill that gives teenagers 14 and younger the responsibility to give consent without parental knowledge or guidance. Teenagers lack the mental accuity, critical thinking skills, and scientific understanding of such a decision with life-long impact. Absolutely unacceptable!
Senator Kagan,
I just learned of SB378 yesterday, and needless to say I along with everyone I have spoken to is opposed it. It is IRRESPONSIBLE to allow children aged 14 to make serious medical decisions without the involvement of their parents. Why would any caring parent want this bill passed? PLEASE withdraw SB378. Children are simply not capable of making such decisions on their own at such a young age.
Sincerely,
Wm. R. Waters
I strongly urge you to withdrawal HB378. Minor children cannot drive, drink alcohol, smoke, vote, or serve in the military. What makes you think that they have the capacity to make a decision concerning their health care? Children belong to their parents not the state! This is nothing more than another attempt to take control of other people’s children! Parents know their children’s health conditions and can make choices based on their health; the state cannot. It is the parent who loves and cares more for their children and who should be making ALL decisions for them!
If a child is harmed, it is the child and his/her parents that will suffer.
If there is damage from the vaccine, are you willing to take responsibility for it? Are you willing to pay for the child’s care if needed? You should not be making such important and possibly life threatening decisions! They are not your children!!!
Keep your hands off of other people’s children!
My son is allergic to certain agents in vaccines. Why would you think it would be okay to not inform his parents?
STOP SB378. NOW AND FOREVER!