FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ADVOCACY GROUPS APPLAUD CONNECTICUT CATHOLIC CONFERENCE PROMISE TO “JEALOUSLY GUARD” RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS
Hartford, CT (February 3, 2020) -- Advocacy group Informed Choice Connecticut (ICCT) and the non-profit First Freedoms applaud the Connecticut Catholic Conference’s January 28, 2020 statement on vaccine policy. The statement pledges that the Conference will “stand as a defender of religious liberty for all” citizens of Connecticut and “jealously guard” existing religious exemptions. The Catholic Conference also recognizes the validity of the “conscientious objection” that some parents have to vaccination because “some vaccines which use human fetal cell lines.”
Both groups welcome the support of the Catholic Conference for the current policy in Connecticut, which includes offering a religious exemption to vaccination.
“It’s wonderful news that the Catholic Conference is committed to protecting religious liberty,'' said LeeAnn Ducat, founder of ICCT. “At present, Connecticut parents cannot send their children to school without injecting them with DNA fragments from aborted human fetuses, because there is only one MMR vaccine licensed in the US, and it contains those DNA fragments. Merck has a monopoly on the MMR vaccine - there are no other alternatives - and many people of faith have a legitimate religious objection to injecting fetal DNA into their children. I’m very happy that the Catholic Conference recognizes this fact.” (1) (2) (3)
“The Catholic Conference has taken a strong stand defending religious liberty. This is very welcome news, considering that religious liberty is under attack in states all over the country,” said Kevin Barry, President of First Freedoms, and an attorney in New York who is currently litigating to restore the religious exemption there. “State representatives who seek to repeal religious exemptions don’t acknowledge that their effort to do so strips citizens of two fundamental rights: the right to religious liberty and the right to attend public school. Fortunately, the Catholic Conference understands the importance of religious liberty.”
“New York made a terrible mistake when they removed the religious exemption,” Barry added. “New York permanently repealed the religious exemption on June 13, 2019, even though New York City [on 9/3/2019] and New York State [on 10/3/2019] both admitted that the measles outbreak was over. The Democratic majority in Albany used measles as the excuse to repeal the exemption in a party line vote. Thousands of families have already left the state because their religious liberty was permanently removed due to a temporary, mild and very manageable measles outbreak.” (4) (5) (6)
“Not every family can homeschool,” continued Ducat of ICCT. “How can a single parent, on one income, homeschool one child let alone multiple children, especially if he or she has to quit their job to freely exercise his or her religious beliefs? Connecticut’s policymakers need to consider that not every family has unlimited financial resources. Repealing the religious exemption would have the effect of segregating access to school among rich and poor.”
Informed Choice Connecticut and First Freedoms look forward to working with the Connecticut Catholic Conference to defend religious liberty and maintain the religious exemption to vaccination.
###
REFERENCES
1. Dr. Paul Offit, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “Are Fetal Cells Used to Make Vaccines?” August 2015.
Dr. Offit: “Now, the answer to the question, is it true then that some of these vaccines that I’ve just mentioned could contain small quantities of residual DNA from those cells? And the answer to that question is, yes.”
https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/video/are-fetal-cells-used-make-vaccines
2. Vaccine Excipient Summary, Center for Disease Control, search for MRC-5 cells for vaccines which contain human fetal DNA fragments, January 2019.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf
3. Sworn affidavit of Dr. Theresa Deisher on aborted fetal cells in vaccines, September 10, 2019.
http://www.firstfreedoms.org/uploads/7/5/0/3/75031919/dr._deisher_affitdavit.pdf
4. “New York repeals its religious exemption due to alleged measles public health crisis”, New York Times, June 13, 2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/nyregion/measles-vaccinations-new-york.html
5. New York City Department of Health declares measles outbreak has ended, September 3, 2019.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/03/health/new-york-city-measles-outbreak-over-bn/index.html
6. New York State Department of Health says no active cases of measles in NY state, October 3, 2019.
https://www.health.ny.gov/press/releases/2019/2019-10-03_response_to_measles.htm
ADVOCACY GROUPS APPLAUD CONNECTICUT CATHOLIC CONFERENCE PROMISE TO “JEALOUSLY GUARD” RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS
Hartford, CT (February 3, 2020) -- Advocacy group Informed Choice Connecticut (ICCT) and the non-profit First Freedoms applaud the Connecticut Catholic Conference’s January 28, 2020 statement on vaccine policy. The statement pledges that the Conference will “stand as a defender of religious liberty for all” citizens of Connecticut and “jealously guard” existing religious exemptions. The Catholic Conference also recognizes the validity of the “conscientious objection” that some parents have to vaccination because “some vaccines which use human fetal cell lines.”
Both groups welcome the support of the Catholic Conference for the current policy in Connecticut, which includes offering a religious exemption to vaccination.
“It’s wonderful news that the Catholic Conference is committed to protecting religious liberty,'' said LeeAnn Ducat, founder of ICCT. “At present, Connecticut parents cannot send their children to school without injecting them with DNA fragments from aborted human fetuses, because there is only one MMR vaccine licensed in the US, and it contains those DNA fragments. Merck has a monopoly on the MMR vaccine - there are no other alternatives - and many people of faith have a legitimate religious objection to injecting fetal DNA into their children. I’m very happy that the Catholic Conference recognizes this fact.” (1) (2) (3)
“The Catholic Conference has taken a strong stand defending religious liberty. This is very welcome news, considering that religious liberty is under attack in states all over the country,” said Kevin Barry, President of First Freedoms, and an attorney in New York who is currently litigating to restore the religious exemption there. “State representatives who seek to repeal religious exemptions don’t acknowledge that their effort to do so strips citizens of two fundamental rights: the right to religious liberty and the right to attend public school. Fortunately, the Catholic Conference understands the importance of religious liberty.”
“New York made a terrible mistake when they removed the religious exemption,” Barry added. “New York permanently repealed the religious exemption on June 13, 2019, even though New York City [on 9/3/2019] and New York State [on 10/3/2019] both admitted that the measles outbreak was over. The Democratic majority in Albany used measles as the excuse to repeal the exemption in a party line vote. Thousands of families have already left the state because their religious liberty was permanently removed due to a temporary, mild and very manageable measles outbreak.” (4) (5) (6)
“Not every family can homeschool,” continued Ducat of ICCT. “How can a single parent, on one income, homeschool one child let alone multiple children, especially if he or she has to quit their job to freely exercise his or her religious beliefs? Connecticut’s policymakers need to consider that not every family has unlimited financial resources. Repealing the religious exemption would have the effect of segregating access to school among rich and poor.”
Informed Choice Connecticut and First Freedoms look forward to working with the Connecticut Catholic Conference to defend religious liberty and maintain the religious exemption to vaccination.
###
REFERENCES
1. Dr. Paul Offit, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “Are Fetal Cells Used to Make Vaccines?” August 2015.
Dr. Offit: “Now, the answer to the question, is it true then that some of these vaccines that I’ve just mentioned could contain small quantities of residual DNA from those cells? And the answer to that question is, yes.”
https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/video/are-fetal-cells-used-make-vaccines
2. Vaccine Excipient Summary, Center for Disease Control, search for MRC-5 cells for vaccines which contain human fetal DNA fragments, January 2019.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf
3. Sworn affidavit of Dr. Theresa Deisher on aborted fetal cells in vaccines, September 10, 2019.
http://www.firstfreedoms.org/uploads/7/5/0/3/75031919/dr._deisher_affitdavit.pdf
4. “New York repeals its religious exemption due to alleged measles public health crisis”, New York Times, June 13, 2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/nyregion/measles-vaccinations-new-york.html
5. New York City Department of Health declares measles outbreak has ended, September 3, 2019.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/03/health/new-york-city-measles-outbreak-over-bn/index.html
6. New York State Department of Health says no active cases of measles in NY state, October 3, 2019.
https://www.health.ny.gov/press/releases/2019/2019-10-03_response_to_measles.htm
| ct_catholic_conference.pdf |
