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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/18/2011 12:35:20 PM Home School Legal Defense Association West Virginia: URGENT--Immunization Freedom Bill--Contact Senator Unger Today |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== West Virginia: URGENT--Immunization Freedom Bill--Contact Senator Unger Today Dear HSLDA Members and Friends in Senator Unger's District: West Virginia is one of two states that do not permit parents to exempt their children from immunizations for religious, conscientious or philosophical reasons. Senate Bill 522 would bring West Virginia into line with the rest of the country by providing a simple and clear exception from immunization requirements for parents who object because of "religious, conscientious or philosophical beliefs." SB 522 has been referred to the Health and Human Resources Committee. However, Senator John Unger, who is the Senate majority leader, has questioned whether this reform is needed. He needs to hear from his constituents so that this positive legislation can be kept moving. ACTION REQUESTED Please contact Senate Majority Leader John Unger by phone, email and in person if possible, and urge him to support SB 522. Because this issue affects all parents, you do not need to identify yourself as a homeschooler. Feel free to use the following message as a guide, but be sure to personalize it by using your own words. "Please support Senate Bill 522. As a parent I feel that it is important that I be protected in my religious, conscientious, and philosophical objections to immunizations. No one should be forced by the state to immunize their children against their sincere beliefs. Our state is one of only two states in the nation without such a law. It's time for West Virginia to join the rest of the nation and recognize that immunizing a child is a decision that should be left up to parents. SB 522 gives parents this choice. Please do what you can to move this bill forward! Thank you!" Senator John Unger II - Senate Majority Leader Capitol Phone: (304) 357-7933 Business Phone: (304) 357-7933 E-mail: john.unger@wvsenate.gov BACKGROUND Vaccines can sometimes cause permanent injury and death. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out over 1.3 billion dollars in damages to families for injuries and deaths following a vaccine reaction. Every year the Food and Drug Administration receives 12,000-14,000 reports to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) of hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following vaccination. This figure does not include the estimated 1 to 10 percent of vaccine injuries that are not reported. Immunizations should not be mandated, since many parents have strong religious convictions or philosophical reasons against vaccinating their children. Because of the research and case studies demonstrating the risks of vaccination, many parents sincerely believe that such vaccines would harm their children. This bill will let parents choose. As a result of these religious convictions and others, 48 state legislatures have appropriately provided religious or conscientious/philosophical exemptions for parents with similar beliefs. Seventeen states allow for conscientious parental choice exemptions: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Texas and Wisconsin. Only Mississippi and West Virginia have no religious or philosophical exemptions. However, Mississippi does allow an automatic exemption for homeschool students. According to Centers for Disease Control surveys, states allowing for conscientious choice exemptions do not have higher rates of vaccine-preventable illnesses. For more information on immunizations, see our memorandum at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10379 . Thank you for your effort to extend freedom in West Virginia! Very truly yours, Michael P. Donnelly, Esq. Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> How many of your friends would pay your legal fees? As a member of HSLDA, you have 80,000 families standing with you to protect and advance homeschool freedoms in the United States and foreign countries. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1106 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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