How far would you go to protect your children from a potential harm?
Currently in the US, all 50 states have laws requiring specified vaccines for students. While exemptions many vary from state to state, all states do grant exemptions for medical reasons. In total, there are 45 states (including Washington D.C.) which grant exemptions on religious grounds, and at least 15 states which allow for “philosophical” exemptions which can be justified based on one’s personal, moral or ideological beliefs.
The following chart is a state by state breakdown of vaccine exemptions in the United States:
However, sometimes such legal provisions are not enough and parents have no choice but to wage battle in the courts.
One such case is that of Linus and Terri Baker, are have been forced to take on the government in order to protect their grandchild from what they believe is a health risk – as well as an direct infringement upon their liberty.
From the Kansas City Star…
A Johnson County lawyer and his wife — who have never vaccinated their 4-year-old son — are suing Blue Valley schools and state officials, calling Kansas’ immunization requirements unconstitutional and archaic.
Linus and Terri Baker had previously sued the Kansas Department of Children and Families, which in 2017 had notified them it would vaccinate the boy against their wishes. That never happened.
Last year, a federal judge dismissed all claims. Now that the boy is approaching school age, the family is trying again.
This week the Bakers — who are the child’s biological grandparents and now adoptive parents — filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas against the Blue Valley school district, Gov. Laura Kelly, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lee Norman, secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
“We have this right of having bodily integrity,” said Linus Baker, who works as a lawyer in Stilwell, in southern Johnson County. “You can’t pump someone’s stomach against their wishes. You can’t make someone take drugs. You can’t make a woman have an abortion. You can’t do a lot of things because of bodily integrity. So why is it we can force a child to be injected with vaccines 24 times? It’s the same principle.”
Spokeswomen for both Blue Valley schools and the state health department on Friday declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it is under review.
But state health officials and vaccine proponents have argued that unvaccinated children pose a health risk to others. They point to the recent measles outbreak in Johnson County and elsewhere, a disease that has reappeared since the anti-vaccination movement has grown.
The Bakers’ son, who is being referred to as S.F.B in court documents, was born with a heart condition, which required surgery when he was 6 months old.
He’s now physically healthy, according to the new lawsuit, but Linus Baker said he has mental disabilities. The family worries about how vaccines could affect his health. And they have religious objections.
Fight Over Custody
When S.F.B was 2 years old, he was placed in temporary state custody after a Johnson County judge ruled he was a child in need of care. His biological mother — the Bakers’ daughter — was notified that the Kansas Department of Children and Families, or DCF, might vaccinate her son. DCF gave the mother 14 days to submit a written objection.
Linus and Terri Baker are taking on the government – and by extension, the pharmaceutical industry too. Watch:
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‘Irrational’ exemptions?
Kansas law provides two exemptions to the school immunization requirement, based on religious beliefs and medical concerns.
To claim the medical exemption, a family must provide an annual written statement signed by a licensed physician stating vaccinations would seriously endanger the life or health of the child. Linus Baker said his child would not qualify for that exemption under state law.
For the religious exemption, the state offers two versions.
To enroll in a child care facility, a parent must sign a statement saying: “As the parent or legal guardian, I state that I am an adherent of a religious denomination whose teachings are opposed to immunizations.”
But to enroll a child in a school or preschool — which is the case with the Bakers’ boy — the parent must submit in writing that “the child is an adherent of a religious denomination whose religious teachings are opposed to such tests or inoculations.”
That’s the statement S.F.B’s mother submitted to the state.
Linus Baker said the statement is “irrational” and “does not comply” with Kansas statutes.
The family does have religious objection to vaccines, he said. Terri Baker is a Christian and holds a strong belief that vaccines pose health risks, despite scientific research showing the benefits far outweigh any risks.
But he argues that a 4-year-old mentally challenged child cannot choose to adhere to a religious denomination.
“As students get older, they certainly formulate their own beliefs. But this is a 4-year-old without the mental capacity to make that decision,” he said. “He likes Spider-Man. But I doubt he knows anything about adhering to a religious denomination.”
In the lawsuit, the Bakers request an injunction allowing their son to attend public or private schools without being vaccinated, and without filing a religious or medical exemption. They also ask for a declaration that Kansas’ exemption statute is “unconstitutionally vague,” and that requiring a child to be an adherent of a religious denomination is a violation of parents’ right to make decisions for their child…
Continue this story at Kansas City Star
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