The loathsome bill was passed by the Texas Senate despite stiff opposition.  Please help counter this force in the House—where freedom of medical choice already has many enemies.  Every voice counts.

Laura J. Ruede, MLS

Librarian-liaison, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders; School of

Education

Texas Christian University

Board Member, Autism Autoimmunity Project (http://www.gti.net/truegrit)

Editor, Autism Autoimmunity Project Newsletter

-----Original Message-----

Dear PROVE TX Members,

CALLS AND EMAIL NOTES TO STATE REPRESENTATIVES NEEDED TODAY!

The bad news is that the Intrusive Opt-Out tracking system bill passed the Senate yesterday morning and the bill is on its way over to the House today.

The good news is that we can stop it in the House of Representatives.

It is imperative that we flood our state Representatives with calls and email notes of opposition to the concept of an opt-out registry like the one contained in SB 1237 and HB 1702 right away because of two reasons:

1.) somebody may try a sneaky maneuver to add this language to another

bill from a floor amendment - there are some bills up for debate today that

would allow for this

2.) there are a couple of deadlines in the next couple of days (CS SB

1237 has to be passed out of the House Public Health Committee by Saturday

and either CS SB 1237 or CS HB 1702 has to be out of the Calendar Committee

by Sunday) - if they miss these deadlines the bills are dead

The legislature is winding down to a close and legislators and staff are keeping long hours and are exhausted, so keep calls, email notes, and faxes brief, strong, and polite.

ACTION FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

1) CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

2) EMAIL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

3) GET OTHER FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO CALL ALSO

1) CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

If you do not know who your State Representative is, you may find out by going to the following website and typing in your address: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/address.htm.  Direct capitol office numbers are listed on the web, or you can call the capitol switchboard at (512) 463-4630.

(Later note:  Apologies--Texans may find their representatives via the following: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm  or http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml.

It is probably better to call Austin, but call the local office if you can't get through, and ask them to forward your message.)

On all calls, here are some points from which you can consider:

·        Please ask Representative __________ to vote against any efforts to erode parental and medical privacy rights by changing the vaccine tracking system from OPT-IN to OPT-OUT.

·        I AM STRONGLY OPPOSED TO CS SB 1237, CS HB 1702 and any floor amendments containing this change because:

·        I don’t want my private physician releasing any portion of my child’s confidential medical record to anyone, especially a government agency, without my prior permission or knowledge. It is not right to put the burden on parents to have to remove their children after the fact.

·        How would you feel if some trade associations whose purpose is to further the business and financial interests of their members decided they wanted to have a portion of your private medical record released without your consent to be tracked in a government database?

·        Such a blatant disregard for parental and medical privacy rights further erodes the already declining trust in coercive vaccination policies. Many parents will stop immunizing their children altogether and will hesitate taking their children to a doctor because that is the only way to prevent their child’s record from being released to TDH without their consent.

·        The legislature demonstrated their overwhelming support to uphold parental and medical privacy rights by supporting an OPT-IN system 4 years ago. Now, TDH and doctors, who have refused to implement the current opt-in consent law for the past 4 years, are asking to be rewarded for their bad behavior with more power and control over OUR children.

·        TDH has already shown parents that it cannot be trusted. Hundreds of thousands of children were found to have been entered into the registry illegally without the parental consent required under the current law and some parents who have found their child entered without consent have tried with no success to have their child removed.  The public testimony against SB 1237 included several personal accounts of this.

·        Doctors, insurance companies, and TDH should have to operate under the current law and obtain my permission in order to release any portion of my child’s confidential medical record or to enter it into a government database.  If you let them rationalize releasing a child’s medical record for this without parental consent, what and who will be next?

·        If you really want to get more data in the registry go to the source of the problem - physicians. Penalize doctors who refuse to implement the opt-in consent law and won’t send consented data to TDH - don’t penalize responsible parents who are trying to raise their children without government interference.

·        PLEASE VOTE AGANST CHANGING THE REGISTRY FROM OPT-IN TO OPT-OUT.

2)   EMAIL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Send a note using the name of your representative in the email address in the following form ([email protected]). For example [email protected].

[YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS]

[DATE]

The Honorable [REPRESENTATIVE’S NAME]

P.O. Box 2910,

Austin, TX 78768-2910

Dear Represenative [REPRESENTATIVE’S NAME],

Please oppose any efforts to erode parental and medical privacy rights by changing the vaccine tracking system from OPT-IN to OPT-OUT.

I AM STRONGLY OPPOSED TO CS SB 1237, CS HB 1702 and any floor amendments changing the vaccine tracking system from OPT-IN to OPT-OUT because:

[PERSONALIZED BODY -

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO IS KEEP THE TOTAL LETTER LENGTH TO ONE

PAGE OR LESS TO MAKE SURE IT IS READ.

CUSTOMIZE SOME OF THE POINTS INCLUDED ABOVE IN THE PHONE SCRIPT INTO YOUR

OWN WORDS TO EMPHASISE WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU.

BE RESPECTFUL AND POSITIVE IN YOUR CHOICES OF WORDS]

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

3)   GET OTHER FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO CALL ALSO

Think about who you can call and educate on this that may be willing to make a quick phone call to their representative and then forward this email note to them.

I know that there have been a lot of alerts and requests for calls and letters, and we all appreciate it.  Session is almost done - please hang in there for the next couple of weeks for our children.  We need each and every one of you.

Sincerely,

Dawn Richardson

PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)

[email protected] (email)

PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and practices that affect the children and adults of Texas.  Our mission is to prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their family.

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ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.