Denied Access
What would you do if your child was denied access to schooling necessary for their special education needs due to your personhood beliefs?
This situation is not theoretical. In Stamford, Connecticut, Brandon Bonner’s four-year-old daughter was denied access to a public preschool due to his personhood convictions regarding vaccines. The sad reality in this case is that his daughter had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and needed to attend a brick-and-mortar school due to her special education needs.
Bonner’s daughter was denied access to schooling due to Bonner’s belief that, “‘receiving a vaccination that has been tested, manufactured or otherwise developed through the use of cell lines derived from aborted fetal cells would be a sin before God.”’[1]
Sadly, for pro-lifers living in California, New York, Maine, and Connecticut, religious exemptions for school children are no longer available to parents.[2]
A Reminder: Aborted Fetal Cell Use
Some well-meaning individuals might simply state that if you desire for your children to attend an educational facility, then vaccinate them.
However, as we have covered in previous articles, the concern that some vaccines contain or have been produced with fetal cell lines from aborted babies is verifiable. Common cell lines, such as WI-38, MRC-5, and HEK-293 have all been utilized for vaccine testing or production and originate from aborted babies.[3]
WI-38 is the cell line used in MMR vaccines and MRC-5 is used in Hepatitis A vaccines, both required for school attendance in Georgia.[4]
Georgia Denies Access Too?
Despite the fact that the state of Georgia has a religious exemption form – specifically used for K-12 schools – many Christian schools do not accept the form.
First Baptist Roswell’s preschool policy also states that, “Exemptions for religious reasons must be preapproved” and that “Non-medical exemptions are not accepted. Parents or guardians who object to immunizations for personal reasons will not be permitted to enroll their child in the program.”[5]
The Archdiocese of Atlanta states that, “All children attending Catholic parish Preschools must meet Georgia state standards for immunization” and that “religious exemptions are not accepted in parish Preschool programs.”[6]
This requirement is not limited to preschools. Specific Catholic schools in Georgia such as Blessed Sacrament Catholic School (K-8), St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School (K-8), and Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School (9-12) state the same policy as the Archdiocese recommends.[7]
Even though Georgia DECAL (Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning) accepts religious exemptions, St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School Pre-K, a school listed on the DECAL website, does not accept religious exemptions.[8]
These are just some examples of educational programs in the state of Georgia which do not accept religious exemptions for vaccinations.
The question remains for parents who object to vaccines produced or tested with fetal cell lines: what happens if a religious exemption is not approved or simply not accepted for their young child at a Georgia facility?
Furthermore, what happens if parents’ objections to vaccines are not primarily based on a religious belief, but solely on their personhood views?
Georgia Form 2208
Georgia’s religious exemption form states that, “I sincerely affirm that vaccination is contrary to my religious beliefs, and that my objections to vaccination are not based solely on grounds of personal philosophy or inconvenience.”[9]
While Christians who hold to a pro-personhood ethic and reject the use of vaccines produced or tested with cell lines from aborted babies can sincerely hold to this section of the form, the secular personhood advocate could not.
Should their beliefs simply be classified as “personal philosophy” because they oppose the use of aborted fetal cell lines in vaccines? Secular personhood advocates are left with no choice for state-funded education for their children if they oppose vaccines produced or tested with aborted fetal cell lines.
Georgia’s form also states that parents must acknowledge, “that my child may be required to receive a vaccination in the event that such a disease is in epidemic stages.”[10]
This is in direct contradiction to the purpose of the religious exemption form! If a child can still receive a vaccination in the event of an epidemic (and one only needs to think back to the COVID-19 era when vaccine mandates abounded), the religious exemption form loses its teeth.
Thus, not only are parents barred from private preschool options in the state of Georgia even with a religious exemption form, the form itself does not help secular personhood advocates and includes a major loophole.
Do parents’ rights and their personhood beliefs matter in this issue?
For the Christian, personhood advocates seeking to send their child to a facility that does not accept religious exemptions or the secular personhood advocates who have no options, change needs to occur.
My Body, My Choice
The common argument that abortion advocates utilize for abortion, “my body, my choice,” does not seem to apply to someone who declines vaccinations for their children, but only to individuals wanting to kill their innocent children through abortion.
The sophisticated version of this argument is known as “bodily autonomy.”
Judith Thompson, popular abortion advocate, writes that, “I am arguing only that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another person’s body–even if one needs it for life itself.”[11]
Thompson denies the intrinsic responsibility parents have towards their children. By equivocating a child developing in the womb to someone “using” someone else’s body, she denies the duty parents have towards a human being they helped to create. Her argument rests solely on the fact that the child is in a different location, inside of the womb versus outside.
My body, my choice fails as the preborn child is a separate body inside of the mother.
No More Hypocrisy
True bodily autonomy is not a right to kill one’s own child, but a right to protect your body and those under your care from harm.
Parents who are personhood advocates have the right to decide their children’s medical choices and not be denied access to public amenities and options available to other children.
Thus, pro-life parents must remember to “fight the good fight”[12] whether that is challenging vaccine companies to stop utilizing aborted fetal cell lines, challenging schools to allow their children attendance despite vaccine requirements, or challenging the church to a higher moral standard.
Aborted babies and ethical living require no less.
Sources:
[1] Brandon Bonner Lawsuit
[2] States That Do Not Allow Religious Exemptions
[3] Cell Lines Origination
[4] “Summary of Georgia Immunization Requirements for Child Care & School Attendance.” Georgia Department of Public Health. Revised April 2021.
Cell Lines Origination
[5] First Baptist Roswell Policy
[6] Archdiocese Policy
[7] Blessed Sacrament Catholic School, St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School, and Cristo Rey School Policy
[8] DECAL Website
[9] Georgia Form 2208
[10] Ibid
[11] Judith J. Thomson, “A Defense of Abortion,” Journal of Philosophy and Public Affairs 1.1 (1971); reprinted in Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics, 5th ed., ed. Ronald Munson (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996: 69-80). https://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/Phil160,Fall02/thomson.htm
[12] 1 Timothy 6:12
Brooke Hampton
Georgia Right to Life
Project Coordinator
Georgia Right to Life – Project Coordinator