by Renee Brodowski
In his UVMMC video bio Vermont House Representative George Till, OB/GYN and associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UVMMC timidly gushes, “Oh, I don’t think there’s any question that the most rewarding thing I do is deliver babies, even if it happens in the middle of the night for me . . . it’s an amazing experience, unlike anything else in medicine.”
Dr. Till, baby-deliverer-by-night, legislator and usurper of parental rights by day, apparently also has the gift of prophecy, knowing how courts would decide if a person sues a hospital ethics board, professional medical organizations, or the Board of Medical Practice for their constitutional right to have an elective abortion in their last trimester pregnancy under the proposed Article 22 reproductive autonomy amendment.
Representative Till claims @ 45:10 during the February 8 House Floor Vote “It [Prop 5/Article22] changes nothing for medical personnel involved, nor the medical personnel who wish not to be involved in terminations. It does not mean as we have heard that pregnancy terminations will happen up until the end of birth. It does not mean that there will be no restrictions on abortions in Vermont.”
Representative Anne Donahue, J.D., Georgetown Law School, debunked Representative George Till’s assertions @1:16 during the House Floor vote; “Adopting Proposal 5 without first adopting conscience protection establishes a legislative intent regarding its priorities. Conscience protection will be argued as an unconstitutionally imposed obstacle for some individuals’ decisions on their reproductive autonomy. Even laws that allow for licensing standards or hospital regulations or ethics standards may very well be found to violate those constitutional rights as an obstacle.”
Here are a few family-unfriendly bills Representative Till has introduced and/or co-sponsored over the past few years:
- H.684 (2020) proposed to allow minors age 12+ to consent to preventative services for STDs, which includes HPV and Hep B immunizations, medications pre- and post- exposure to HIV, and “any other services for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.”
- H.663/Act 157 (18 V.S.A. § 12 passed in 2020) requires public schools, grades 7 – 12 make condoms “readily accessible to students, including [but not limited to] the school nurse’s office.”
- H.57/Act 47 (18 V.S.A. Chapter 223 passed in 2019), an act relating to preserving the right to abortion, in which §9494 Sec. 2 states, “No State or local law enforcement shall prosecute any individual for inducing, performing, or attempting to induce or perform the individual’s own abortion,” wherein “any individual” is undefined.
- H.515 (2019) proposed to allow minors age 16+ to consent to vaccines.
- H.230/Act 35 (Sec. 1. 18 V.S.A. chapter 196, passed in 2017) allows minors to consent to outpatient mental health treatment without parental consent or notification.
- H.23 (2022) An act relating to administering stem cell products not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Although Till claims delivering babies is the most rewarding part of his medical practice, he seems to be bent on making sure many babies are not delivered, especially with his claims during the House floor vote that, “according to the Center for Disease Control, carrying a pregnancy to term is 33 times more likely to result in a maternal death than would be having an abortion – 33 times – so if you’re telling a woman she cannot have an abortion, you are subjecting her to a major increase in her risks.” Such strong promotion against bringing pregnancies to term does not seem very profitable for the Obstetrics business .
The author is an Addison County resident.