Bill Allowing Pre-Teens To Get Vaxxed Without Parental Consent Passes Senate
California State Senate passed legislation Thursday that would allow teens to choose to get vaccinated without their parent’s consent.
The bill would allow children 12 and older to decide for themselves to receive any vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration without parental consent.
“Our legislation to allow teens to protect their health by getting vaccinated (SB 866) just passed the Senate. Thank you, colleagues,” Democratic California State Sen. Scott Weiner, who authored the bill, tweeted.
“Young people 12 and over are already allowed to make critical decisions about their bodies without parental consent, including getting the human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B vaccines, accessing reproductive health care and mental health care, and other health services,” Weiner said in a statement,
The legislation now heads to the State Assembly where it will be heard in committee hearings.
There has been pushback from parents and others, with one woman saying during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing the bill was “demonic.” Several opponents opposed the legislation because their kids had been “vaccine-injured.”
Maribel Duarte claimed her son is suffering side effects of the vaccine after he was vaccinated by his school without her consent, according to the report.
“I feel that in that age, they still don’t have that mentality or rightness to choose if they’re OK or healthy enough to make that decision,” Duarte said.
Similar legislation was passed in Washington, D.C., in 2020 that allowed children 11 and older to get vaccinated without their parents’ consent provided that a doctor determined the child was capable of making an informed decision. A federal judge barred the district from enforcing the law saying the legislation violated religious liberty.