Welcome to 2023:
Right to Refuse, Safe Harbor, and Beyond!
As we begin this New Year, there is much progress to celebrate in health freedom as well as much more work to do. From new proposed Right to Refuse bills, to more states working on Safe Harbor laws, 2023 will be a big year for health freedom! Also, NHFC and our sister group NHFA will be attending and participating in national conferences throughout the year; our first stop was January 7th and 8th at the American Health & Freedom Summit in Orlando, Florida.
Right to Refuse
NHFC is continuing to meet twice a month with state leaders who want to learn about possible Right to Refuse bills in their states. These meetings allow us to help educate leaders and pass on the experiences of other states.
In the meantime, following our recent reports of multiple new bills in Missouri and Texas, now four more states have filed Right to Refuse bills for 2023:
In Oklahoma, bill SB33 would prohibit any government entity, or their contractors, from requiring a COVID-19 vaccination or discriminating based on vaccine status.
Out in Wyoming, HB66, if passed, will prevent any public accommodations from denying services based on any vaccine status, mask status, or testing requirements. Businesses or persons who communicate that such measures are required are guilty of a misdemeanor, facing up to one year in jail.
Next, New Hampshire’s HB10 would create a Parents Bill of Rights. Under this proposal, parents have the right to make medical decisions for their children, including those regarding vaccinations and immunizations.
Finally, in Virginia SB833 would prohibit state health agencies from requiring any person of any age to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. It also prohibits discrimination based on COVID-19 vaccine status and creates a civil penalty for employer violations.
Safe Harbor Practitioner Exemption Bills
NHFC is currently working with several states whose activists want help learning about laws that will allow a wide variety of healing practitioners to legally work without facing arbitrary charges of “practicing medicine without a license.” To date, eleven states have passed legislation to ensure access to these practitioners. We will update you as additional Safe Harbor bills are filed.
Connecticut
Under Connecticut’s HB5500, which was passed into law on May 23, 2022,
“The Commissioner of Public Health shall study whether the state should adopt safe harbor legislation that permits alternative health care practitioners who are not licensed, certified or registered in the state to provide traditional health care services, to provide certain alternative health care services, including, but not limited to, aromatherapy, energetic healing, healing touch, herbology or herbalism, meditation and mind body practices, polarity therapy, reflexology and Reiki, without violating any provision of the general statutes relating to the unlicensed practice of medicine. Not later than January 1, 2023, the commissioner shall report…to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly….”
The report due January 1 has not been made public yet, but we will update you on the results of this critical study.
Tracking Legal Action
We are committed to keeping you informed on important legal decisions impacting health freedom. Whether from a trial judge or a Supreme Court justice, these rulings show that our legal system is working to protect our liberties. In our last report from December 13, the theme of religious objections continues to be a dominant one in court challenges.
One major recent legal development in our COVID-19 world is that on December 13, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis petitioned the state Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate any malfeasance around the COVID-19 vaccines and their promotion. DeSantis’ press release notes that “world-renowned physicians, researchers, and public health experts [will] discuss adverse events of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and announce new, aggressive actions to hold the federal government and Big Pharma accountable….” State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said, “Health care professionals should always communicate the risks of a medical intervention to their patients in a manner that is clinically appropriate and meets standards of ethical practice.” According to news reports, on December 22 the Court granted the request for a grand jury, ordering that it be impaneled for one year.
NHFC is working to offer training and support to citizen groups in every state who wish to protect health freedom. Our sister organization, National Health Freedom Action (NHFA) assists with drafting of Safe Harbor and Right to Refuse legislation and lobbying. NHFC helps health freedom groups learn how to organize, how to network, and to work towards success in protecting our health freedoms.
If you want to get started in your state, please reach out to us. That is why we are here!
Please Note: Email sending domain changed.
Beginning January 12, 2023, our email sending domain is changing “from” noreply@cm01.charityengine.net “to” info@nationalhealthfreedom.org. Our purpose is to ensure consistency of the National Health Freedom Coalition across all forms of communication and make it easier for our supporters to recognize.
To make sure our emails or alerts don’t land in your spam folder, please add info@nationalhealthfreedom.org to your contacts as National Health Freedom Coalition’s email. So now, not only will you “reply to” info@nationalhealthfredom.org for your questions and comments, but you will “receive” all email communications “from us” at the email sending domain, info@nationalhealthfreedom.org (prefix could change – ex: info, reply, act, donate, etc., but the domain will always be @nationalhealthfreedom.org).
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Now more than ever it is important that we use the tools that are available to us as Americans.
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Together we can create the “change we wish to see in the world”. Change that will protect our rights to make choices about our own health and the health of our children.
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