Parental Rights Violated in HPV Vaccine Case
Parents in Indiana are in a state of shock after a local doctor gave their 14-year-old daughter a controversial vaccine without their permission.
The vaccine, Gardasil, protects against Human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer. The parents of the 14-year-old girl said they would have refused the shot for their daughter, but were never given that option. So far, their doctor has declined to explain what happened.
Gardasil has garnered significant attention in recent months. According to the University of Pennsylvania, 41 states have introduced legislation in the past year to either require vaccinations or fund educational programs about Gardasil.
At ParentalRights.org, we believe that parents have the right to ask questions and make medical decisions for their child before medical procedures are done.
Parental involvement is especially important in cases of emerging medical treatments, such as Gardasil. While the bulk of the scientific community favors the new drug, some important questions about the risks have been raised. Research conducted by the National Vaccination Information Center found that patients who took Gardasil in conjunction with other vaccines had increased rates of respiratory and circulatory problems. In early June, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 13 cases of GBS (a disorder which causes the body’s immune system to attack the nervous system, resulting in muscle weakness or paralysis) among persons who had received Gardasil.
Thankfully, American law still largely defers to parents’ medical decisions, but this deference is constantly being challenged, particularly by the rising specter of international law.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) seeks to undermine parents by changing American law so that the responsibility to determine “the best interests of the child” falls upon the government, instead of a child’s parents. As one principal drafter of the UNCRC puts it, the Convention’s premise “challenges the concept that family life is always in the best interests of children and that parents are always capable of deciding what is in the best interests of children.”
Both the parents and child in Indiana said that they would have refused the Gardasil vaccine if they had been given the chance. But ultimately, that doesn’t matter under the UNCRC, because acting in the “best interests” of children “provides decision and policy makers with the authority to substitute their own decisions for either the child’s or the parents.” In other words, the government becomes the new parent.
When it comes to the best interests of the child, no one knows children better than their parents. As parents, it’s up to us to be aware of the risks and dangers they may face, whether medical or otherwise, so that we can guide them, provide for them, and protect them from harm.
