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By Guy Page
If Pontius Pilate had asked the Vermont Senate “What is truth?,” it would have answered: “whatever the Attorney General says it is.”
According to S.28, officially called access to certain legally protected health care services’ but known to critics as the Muzzle Bill, truth in health care advertising would be determined by the Attorney General. Untruth would make the accused deceiver liable to civil action by the AG.
At present, complaints against medical practioners are brought to the state Medical Board. This bill circumvents any required expert, board review and instead empowers the elected, often highly-partisan AG to bring direct legal action.
The practice of medicine and public health is replete with disputed, controversial health care practices. Here are just a few:
- Fat is good for you/ fat is bad for you.
- Covid vax safe/ Covid vax causes heart attacks in young people and who knows what else.
- Masks prevent viral transmission/ masks don’t prevent viral transmission.
- Gender transitioning saves lives/ detransitioning saves lives.
- Assisted death is never necessary/ Assisted death is often both necessary and preferable to the alternative.
- A glass of wine is healthy/ you’re better off without it.
For each of these, there could be an approved Vermont Attorney General medical doctrine, and dire consequences for disseminating health care information to the contrary.
S.28 passed the Senate on March 12. It’s now in the House Health Care Committee. It’s the Senate’s attempt to fix a 2023 bill that singled out pregnancy resource centers for what it called false advertising. The sponsors of the 2023 bill declared that these volunteer, pro-life pregnancy centers were deceiving raiders by lying about not performing abortions – even though the websites specifically said they don’t perform abortions.
After the Alliance for Defending Freedom last year helped the pregnancy resource centers file suit in federal court against the law, the Senate regrouped with this new bill which declares that any health care provider faces legal action iniitiated by the Attorney General for disseminating information that he/she deems “untrue.”
S.28 states:
‘It is an unfair and deceptive act and practice in commerce and a violation of section 2453 of this title for any person to disseminate or cause to be disseminated to the public any advertising about health care services in this State that is untrue or clearly designed to mislead the public about the nature of the services provided.
“Advertising includes representations made directly to consumers; marketing practices; communication in any print medium, such as newspapers, magazines, mailers, or handouts; and any broadcast medium, such as television or radio, telephone marketing, or advertising over the internet, such as through websites and,web ads advertisements, and social media. For purposes of this chapter, advertising or the provision of services by a limited-services pregnancy center about health care services an act in commerce.
The Attorney General has the same authority to make rules, conduct civil investigations, and bring civil actions with respect to violations.”
The implications of S.28 becoming law extend far beyond the abortion issue. As one VDC reader and physician asked:
“I wonder if the language in the bill could extend to organizations, like Health Choice or your radio program, or even VDC, that promote ‘disinformation’? What exactly qualifies as advertising?,” he asked. “The AG, not the medical Board, is designated as the final arbiter of truth.’
He then uttered the seven words every doctor hopes to avoid ever saying: “I need to speak to a lawyer.’
The doctor then speculated that the bill is being expanded to cover other controversial practices.
“The question I have is why this and why now? I suspect it is targeting providers to push back at the huge increase in so called “vaccine hesitancy” since the Covid debacle and RFK’s appointment to HHS, perhaps as a prelude to removing the religious exemption here in VT.”
Reach out to your lawmakers
See all bills assigned to this committee here. Constituents may contact committee members (click link on name for bio, party affiliation, etc.) with comments, questions, and information at the following email addresses:
House Healthcare
Rep. Alyssa Black, Chair, ablack@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Francis McFaun, Vice Chair, fmcfaun@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Daisy Berbeco, Ranking Member, dberbeco@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Brian Cina, bcina@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Mari Cordes, Clerk, mcordes@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Wendy Critchlow, wcritchlow@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Allen “Penny” Demar, ademar@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Leslie Goldman, lgoldman@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Lori Houghton, LHoughton@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Woodman Page, wpage@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Debra Powers, dpowers@leg.state.vt.us
All committee transcripts are available at http://www.goldendomevt.com. The Committee meeting video is available at the committee’s YouTube channel. The committee meets in the morning in Room 42.
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Categories: Health Care, News Analysis
The ethos in Montpelier continues to be a exercise in unbidden management of our lives for our own good… “fiddling with the folks”. They pursue agendas they’ve decided are best us. The concept of developing a consensus among us constituents and then representing it doesn’t even occur to them. The ideas of less legislation, constituent initiated legislation, impact auditing, expiration dates for laws, are not in their world view. …and we elect them!!!!
Yep! This bill needs to die right now! The Attorney General has no medical expertise and to have charges hanging over the heads of Healthcare Providers will only add to our shortage because who would want to practice here. The Government needs to stay out of Healthcare period
No longer are they representatives. They are rulers/dictators. Obuma said the people need leaders to show them the best way to live their lives.
These type of legislators do not know what is best for us. They’re supposed to ask us what we would like them to do. They work for us. We don’t pay them to tell us what to do. Totally bass ackwards. And with the 75% of Vermonts population being sheep, not sure if there is any way to vote these dictator wanna be’s out of office. 🙄
Making a partisan, party line or die, big pharma donation recipient Attorney General of any State, of any party, the arbiter of medical truth? There are too many examples of their lawfare warfare going rogue. For any organic or nothing, homeopathic, naturopathic practioner/patient – you good with such an Act of overlord censorship, denial of informed choice, denial of medical autonomy, and big-brother control and wanton scrutiny over your ability to access alternative health information, practices or products?
There are no bigger liars and peddlers of misinformation than the CDC, FDA, NIHS, WHO, MDA, and all other government sponsored and compensated NGO’s and medical universities. The Vermont Legislature is legislating “protectionism” for their friends, associates, and big money donors on many fronts. They are doubling down and burrowed in like ticks on a dog’s hindend.
No honor among thieves and reprobates.
It’s time to call the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Things a supreme example of the hypocrisy and gaslighting of Charity Clark and the sponsors of this bill and all pro-abortion, anti-PRC bills like it.
While they wrongly accuse PRCs of being deceptive and non-medical, they seek to legislate with duplicitous motives, specifically targeting PRCs and any information which actually does give their clients the whole picture, including the truth of the horrific violence, brutality, and devastation abortion is and does. The intentional destruction of preborn human babies in their mother’s wombs has never been and will never be healthcare. Untold times every day in abortion facilities all over the United States, the most basic standards of medical care, compassionate practice, and sanitation standards are grossly violated in the name of healthcare. It’s like saying Dr. Josef Mengele was engaged in legitimate medical research, even as he performed unspeakably perverted and sadistic experiments on children, women, and men.
Evil is still evil, no matter how artfully you dress up and cushion the language of bills.
These people NEED to go home.
They have been in Montpelier way too long!
No notation as to weather any of the Legislators are Republicans.
It’s common practice to ignore people out of your voting district.
Pray the Governor vetos this Garbage.
Without a doubt, this is the scariest development I have read about in some time.
Liberals used to be against total government control. They used to promote peace, love, and “do whatever you please.” How did their authoritarian controllers brainwash them into thinking ending free speech is a good idea? These are not liberals we are facing. They are something else entirely.
Or is this legislation some joke, just to prove how feckless the majority is?
Definite shades of dictatorship in this bill.
What the actual f…. I have to ask, at what point are we going to drag these enemies of America from that capital building????
Question – If the Attorney General makes the determination of “truth”, who then prosecutes a violation of it? Seems you can’t have the same person doing both jobs.
Sounds like there would be no need to prosecute. The AG. Would also have the title of Judge and Jury and would have already dictated the ruling. AG Just another step toward total government control with the destruction of our first amendment. https://www.google.com/search?q=first+amendment&client=safari&sca_esv=7c32eb477000da72&channel=iphone_bm&source=hp&ei=4C_pZ-_bJ7ilptQPrqjk8Qo&oq=first+ame&gs_lp=EhFtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1ocCIJZmlyc3QgYW1lKgIIADIIEAAYgAQYsQMyCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BMg4QLhiABBixAxjRAxjHATIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgsQABiABBixAxiDATIIEAAYgAQYsQMyDhAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGMcBSPlBUMsIWNMtcAJ4AJABAJgBkwGgAf4FqgEDOC4xuAEByAEA-AEBmAILoALUBqgCD8ICChAAGAMY6gIYjwHCAgoQLhgDGOoCGI8BwgIREC4YgAQYsQMY0QMYgwEYxwHCAgsQLhiABBjRAxjHAcICDhAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEY1ALCAg4QABiABBixAxiDARiKBcICCxAuGIAEGLEDGIMBmAMH8QXXEDeBVEue-ZIHBDEwLjGgB4Rv&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-hp&sei=6i_pZ4S5EpS3ptQP57qeiQs#ebo=0
I can’t think of a worse person to decide what is true and what is not true. Give me a break! I am so sick and tired of the demoprog control freaks trying to control every minutia of our lives! Get off our backs!