Press Release
May 12, 2004
Patricia Weathers, President AbleChild.org (845)
677-8115
Sheila Matthews, National Vice President AbleChild.org
(203) 966-8419
Ablechild
Plugs Loopholes in Trafficking of Children
Forced
Into Behavioral Drug Use in the State of Arizona
Rebecca Noble, Vice President of Ablechild.org in Arizona secured a big win for parents by protecting their ‘right to refuse’ psychiatric drugs for their children. A new law stating that Child Protective Services (CPS) can no longer charge parents with “medical neglect” for failing to administer psychiatric drugs to their children is a victory for parents. Another bill that would have furthered parents ‘right to refuse’ psychiatric drugs for their children within schools was defeated. This defeat for the right to refuse psychiatric drugs clearly erodes parent’s rights to protect their children’s health and safety and is one more example of why ‘The Child Medication Safety Act of 2003’ is urgent on a federal level.
Last
December 3, 2003 Rebecca Noble, Vice President of AbleChild.org, Arizona
testified before the Arizona House of Representative, forty-sixth Legislature,
in a Second Special Session, Committee on Appropriations in regards to Child
Protective Services (CPS) being called on parents unwilling to harm their
children by placing them on dangerous psychiatric drugs used to “treat”
behavioral or attention issues. Senate
Bill 1009 said that CPS did not have the right to accuse parents of medical
neglect if that parent chooses not to “medicate” their child.
Ms.
Noble worked with Senator Mark Anderson in the Senate and Representative Eddie
Farnsworth in the House to ensure that the CPS bill included language to protect
parents who refuse psychiatric drugs for their children.
They all fought very hard for this language.
In the end, House leadership led by Representative Eddie Farnsworth
held the line during negotiations with the Governor by saying that the wording
of the psychiatric drug clause was “non-negotiable”.
On December 13th, 2003, the bill passed both the House and
Senate and went to the Governor’s office for a signature.
On December 18th the Governor signed HB 2024 into law.
“Parents
should be thrilled with this new law guaranteeing that there will be no
detrimental action taken against them by CPS, a state abuse agency, that was
clearly operating well outside its “abuse” boundaries, said Rebecca Noble,
Ablechild.Org Arizona Vice President.
“Parents should have a definitive right to say no to all drugs used
today to ‘treat’ diagnoses such as ADD/ADHD derived by completing both
simple and highly subjective rating scales and checklists.
These drugs many times have had severe side effects on a child, and a
parent no longer willing to administer a drug based on the harm it has caused
their child, should not be threatened with ‘abuse’ charges.”
Ms.
Noble pointed out all parents need to be aware that additional legislation that
would further protect their ‘right to refuse’ psychiatric drugs for their
children was shot down recently. The
recent anti-coercion legislation that Ms. Noble referenced was SB 1278, a bill
simply stating that parents – not school employees – should make the medical
decisions regarding children with behavior problems.
Sadly,
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano vetoed
this important legislation and from this clear shot to parental rights, we can
all but assume that the Governor believes that schools should be allowed to
force parents to drug their children in order to be allowed to attend school.
The
governor's veto had prompted Senator Mark Anderson a champion of
parental rights to issue a statement to the press on what he correctly calls the
“Eroding of Parental Rights”. In
addition to Senator Anderson, there
are many key players in Arizona fighting the good fight, that fight for parental
and children rights. These players
will continue to champion this issue and fight to renew legislation.
More effort is needed from Arizona parents to get the message out that
there should be no compromises surrounding their parental rights to refuse drugs
for their children and that their ‘right to refuse’ should be guaranteed.
Ablechild.org
has its own personal experience with both coercion and harm due to psychiatric
drugs. It has two members who have
had children that have died from drugs forcibly prescribed them.
Other members have had children harmed as from the drugs and many have
had state abuse agencies called on them as well.
As a result, of the widespread mental health systems abuses occurring
within and outside the educational system, AbleChild a national grass root
organization, was born to crusade for parental rights in the midst of a Nation
clearly in crisis.
This
crisis itself is schools forcing parents to administer drugs to their children
in order to be in a classroom setting. The
response to this crisis is that more than 12 States have initiated some form of
legislation or resolutions to curb this trend in forced psychiatric drugging.
There are seven States, which have laws on the books preventing schools
from recommending or demanding that parents place their children on behavioral
drugs as a condition for attending school.
The Federal Government has even initiated a similar bill in response to
the widespread coercion of parents occurring throughout the nation.
This
bill “The Child Medication Safety Act of 2003” passed the House of
Representatives 425-1. Currently it
is pending in the Senate, stalled due to the many special interest groups
claiming to have parental rights and children’s safety at heart yet still
pocketing pharmaceutical funding. Ablechild.org
is just one of the many organizations that have brought this conflict of
interest to light to parents nationwide.
For more information on this important bill visit www.ablechild.org.