Just laws should protect everyone from medical mandates

Photo by Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash) on Unsplash

We regularly hear people with medical credentials claim that abortion is “health care.” Not only is this obviously untrue for the unborn, it has not been demonstrated for the mother either. Never has a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated any physical, emotional, mental or spiritual health improvement attributable to elective abortion.

Nevertheless, abortion advocates make this unsubstantiated claim to advanced policies that entice women to procure abortions, use tax-payer dollars to subsidize them, and coerce doctors, nurses and pharmacists to participate in them. This is bad medicine. But it happens.

Similarly, we now hear claims that mastectomies, hysterectomies, puberty blockers and unnatural hormones are “health care” for minor children suffering gender dysphoria. Again, although there are no RCTs that prove the benefits of these “treatments,” politicians are stripping away the rights of parents to object to them. The Biden HHS Department, in anticipation of the so-called “Equality Act,” already is coercing physicians and psychologists to perform these procedures against their best medical judgment.

Medical conscience rights exist to protect people from abuses like these. Nobody should be forced to perform or to undergo a medical treatment that he or she believes to be harmful. This is especially true when medicine has been politicized. But it is just as true when there is simply an honest difference of opinion. 

In America, a million medical interventions are prescribed every day. And yet, not one of these is begun until the patient, facility, and physician all agree that it is the best option for the given situation. If a physician or hospital disagrees, the patient is referred elsewhere. If the patient disagrees, he or she withholds consent and declines the drug, injection, or procedure.

It is unlawful and unethical to coerce anyone into giving that consent. Every patient has the right to be fully informed of the benefits and the risks of a recommended procedure. Every patient has the right to be free of pressure from outside parties. Every patient has the right to be free of enticements that could weight a medical decision.

Now however, in a bizarre turn of events, we are hearing calls for one medical procedure to be denied such protection. Make no mistake, “vaccine mandates,” and “vaccine passports” are calling for unlawful coercion to be applied to people who know their own bodies, have studied the medical options, and have freely decided the best health care for their situation. 

Coercion comes in many forms. The most egregious form of medical coercion is when guns, incarceration and fines are used to coerce medical procedures. The Chinese Communist Party is currently doing this to the Uyghur people under the banner of “health care.” They force women into abortions and sterilization against their will and the will of their husbands.

Coercion also happens when people are threatened with loss of job, access to goods and services, and denial of visits to loved ones. Medical workers, military personnel, and others are facing such extortion as we speak. This is illegal. But it is happening, nonetheless. Until these cases are justly overthrown in court, people are being intimidated into compliance. 

Even forcing patients to choose between two medical procedures, like a jab in the arm or a swab up the nose, is a form of unethical coercion. Nor should we fail to mention monetary enticements. Currently the University of Wyoming is offering students a chance to “win” thousands of dollars—but only if they submit to a COVID-19 vaccine. Likewise, faculty and staff of the Cheyenne school system are being paid $500 to get the same shot. What elected official authorized our tax dollars to be used in this unethical way?

There is at least one elected official who is fighting to keep medical coercion away from Wyoming citizens. Rep. Sue Wilson (R-Cheyenne) is the prime sponsor of a bill that would prevent Wyoming’s “health care facilities, governmental entities, and providers of essential services,” schools, and places of employment from mandating immunizations against the willing consent of Wyoming citizens.

Kudos to Wyoming’s Joint Labor and Health Committee that recently voted 13-1 to sponsor it. This reasonably written bill upholds existing laws and medical ethics while accommodating those who needlessly worry. CDC Director, Rochelle Walensky, has stipulated that the vaccine does not prevent a person either from catching the virus, or from infecting others. There is no reason to think that the unvaccinated are more dangerous than the vaccinated. 

Rep. Sue Wilson

Nevertheless, for those who are not convinced by the CDC, the bill allows schools, health care facilities and places of employment to impose “reasonable accommodations” on those who choose not to get vaccinated. As long as these “reasonable accommodations” do not coerce other medical procedures, this clause will preserve the bedrock principle of bodily integrity: no one should be coerced to receive or to provide a medical intervention that he or she believes to be harmful.

Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on September 3, 2021.