by Guy Page and Tim Page
A House bill introduced on February 7 would ensure bodily autonomy in health-care decision-making, including vaccination. During the pandemic, vax freedom supporters decried policies requiring mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for employment and college attendance.
H.182 would “recognize and to prohibit any interference with an individual’s rights to bodily autonomy, to make the individual’s own health care decisions, and to be free to accept or refuse any health or medical intervention, testing, treatment, or vaccine based on the individual’s own religious, conscientious, or personal beliefs.”
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mark Higley (R-Lowell) and referred to the House Committee on Human Services.
Also introduced on Feb. 7, a House bill would establish legal personhood for fetuses past 24 weeks of gestation.
H.174 would “narrow the right to reproductive choice and confer legal personhood status upon a human fetus beginning at 24 weeks of fetal development prior to birth.”
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Arthur Peterson (R-Clarendon) and referred to the House Committee on Health Care.
For a list of all House bill introduced to date, see House Bills in the Vermont Daily Chronicle Toolbox to Follow and Influence the Legislature.