Los Angeles Billboards Proclaim “No Shots, No School, Not True!!” – The Question Is, “For How Long?”

Citizens of Southern California who travel around the West Los Angeles area this week may notice a new message. VaxTruth has placed six digital billboards proclaiming “No Shots, No School, Not True!!” in the area. We have been working since the fall of 2011 to get the billboards funded and are thankful to all who have donated to make this happen.

We started our fundraising efforts for the California Billboard Project in August of 2011 and had hoped to have billboards in both Southern and Northern California. Please click here to read our initial announcement about why we decided to get involved in California. When we had the chance to put six billboards in L.A. we made the decision to go for it.  We still believe it is vitally important to send a message to the lawmakers in Sacramento, and we hope that with the added coverage in Los Angeles, more Californians will be made aware of what’s going on in their state and will become involved in helping to protect their parental and civil rights.

Over the last several months, lawmakers in California have waged a dedicated attack on the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their children. AB499, signed into law in the fall of 2011, granted the right to medical professionals to vaccinate children as young as 12 years old without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

In February of 2012, AB2109 was introduced by pediatrician and assembly member, Dr. Richard Pan.  The purpose of AB2109 is to change the state’s laws regarding philosophical or personal belief exemptions from mandatory vaccination for California’s children. California law does not distinguish between religious beliefs and personal or philosophical beliefs; they are treated the same. Current law ensures that parents in the state who object to vaccination for either religious or philosophical reasons do not have to choose between following the law and exercising their religious or philosophical beliefs.  Dr. Pan and the pro-vaccination lobby in California are seeking to put an end to that right or at the very minimum, to make it so difficult for parents to exercise their legal rights so as to force them into compliance with the mainstream medical machine.  We believe this is not only wrong, but also potentially very dangerous to thousands of California’s most vulnerable citizens… the children.

AB2109 will force parents to consult with a medical professional, pay for a doctor’s visit at which they will receive a “vaccine education”, and obtain the medical professional’s signature verifying said consultation, before being allowed to exercise their religious or philosophical beliefs.   “Medical professionals” as defined under AB2109 were originally limited to physicians and surgeons, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants.  The language has since been amended to include naturopathic physicians who are practicing under the direct supervision of a medical doctor.  AB2109 has already passed through the initial phase on its way to becoming state law. Californians who value their legal right to religious and personal freedom have precious little time to take action before those rights become severely restricted.

We have many concerns about what will happen if AB2109 does in fact become the law in California. The infringement on parental rights is only the tip of this iceberg. As many of our readers are aware, there is already a growing adversarial tone to the relationship between many physicians and parents who express concern over the ever-expanding CDC’s childhood vaccination schedule. Increasingly, pediatricians are refusing to treat children who need medical care if parents refuse to follow the CDC’s schedule to the letter, which includes vaccination at birth against a sexually-transmitted disease, and receipt of the chickenpox and measles vaccines, both of which have been cultured on cells from aborted human fetal tissue. When parents object to these vaccines on religious or philosophical grounds, AB2109 will force them into a situation of further conflict and the daunting task of defending their beliefs and trying to convince the doctor to sign the legally-mandated form. Where is the religious freedom in this scenario?

When parents who object to vaccination on the basis of their religious and personal beliefs have to go toe-to-toe with their pediatrician or family physician before being ALLOWED to exercise their religious or personal freedoms, how will that affect the doctor-patient relationship in the future? Will parents be afraid to take their children to the doctor when and if the children really DO NEED MEDICAL CARE? The anecdotal information we receive suggests this is the case. How will this benefit the health and well-being of the children of California?

VaxTruth strongly encourages the citizens of California to become involved and to let your lawmakers know how you feel about your right to decide what is injected into your child’s body.

We urge you to check out the information from the National Vaccine Information Center and consider joining the facebook group Californians Against AB2109 to keep updated as AB2109 moves through the legislative process.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Please consider making a donation to The Billboard Project.  100% of proceeds will go to help parents learn of their legal rights to exemptions and of the need to protect those rights.