by Guy Page
The Vermont Legislature has long supported minor abortion without parental consent or notification.
Parents can be shut out of third-party transgender counseling with their children.
Current state law, created by the Legislature, allows treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) without parental notification or consent.
The Legislature has approved municipal voting and office-holding for Brattleboro minors as young as 16.
A ‘working group’ study required by a recent VT law recommends public libraries shield from parents the book selections of children as young as 12.
The Legislature clearly wants youth to have more policy input. The Vermont State Youth Council, created by the Legislature in 2022, meets up to 16 times a year, paying the 28 members ages 11-18 a per diem and expenses. A recent advisory document issued by the Council proposes to reduce the state’s carbon footprint by 90% by the year 2040, minimize vehicle and animal impacts by reducing speed limits and increasing speeding penalties in wildlife areas, and protect 50% of Vermont’s state forests and bio-diverse working lands by 2040.
Not every act of the Legislature moves the age of consent and responsibility downwards. The Legislature has moved the age of consent to marry up to 18. And Gov. Scott is lamenting ever signing a bill raising the age of eligibility to be tried as a minor.
This year’s age of consent battlefield is over vaccination of minors for STDs without parental notification or consent. The next skirmish in this as-yet-undecided legislative battle is scheduled to take place Thursday morning at 10 AM in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, where citizens Alison Despathy and Dr. Sandy Reider are scheduled to testify. Both support parents’ rights regarding vaccination of their children. The hearing will be livestreamed.
At issue is a clause in the innocuously-named S.151, the innocuously-named pay parity and transparency in health care bill. The bill would (among other changes to VT health law) “allow a minor 12 years of age or older to consent to medical care for the prevention of a sexually transmitted infection.”
Critics, including the Vermont Family Alliance, say carving out parental participation in any vaccine choice – and especially one related to sexually-transmitted diseases – puts a child at risk of serious immediate and longterm health problems. It also potentially shields the perpetrator of sexual assault – which, by legal definition, is a sexual act (‘consensual’ or not) perpetrated by an adult on anyone under 16.
(Vermonters seeking more information on parental rights regarding minor abortion may inquire at the Right to Life table in the card-room of the Vermont State House tomorrow, Wednesday February 21.)