AUGUSTA, Maine — Lawmakers on Monday rejected an effort to expand the Maine Human Rights Act to people who choose not to be vaccinated.
The act protects people from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin.
The bill, LD 950, would have added “vaccination status” to that list of protected classes. It was rejected by the House of Representatives in 102-42 vote. The bill faces further action in the Senate, but is likely dead.
The state requires students to be vaccinated for several ailments before they can attend school, unless there is a valid medical, religious or philosophical reason to skip vaccination. Some public employees, such as teachers, can also be required to vaccinate.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. David Sawicki, R-Auburn, said those requirements amount to discrimination against those who want to keep their bodies free of vaccines.
The bill is necessary to “protect your rights from an overzealous government who would compel you to take a medicine because they believe it’s right for you,” Sawicki said. “If a woman has a right to control her reproductive system, surely I have a right to control my immune system.”
Rep. Linda Sanborn, D-Gorham, argued vaccination is important not only for the individual who receives the vaccine, but for protecting people who cannot be vaccinated due to medical conditions that make it dangerous. Sanborn, a doctor, called the bill a “dangerous piece of legislation.”
This year, a national debate about vaccines has spilled into Maine, where lawmakers introduced several bills aimed at strengthening or weakening the state’s vaccination requirements.
Those opposed to the state’s vaccination regime fell into one of several camps: Those who believe in a widely discredited link between vaccination and brain disorders such as autism; those who decry mandatory vaccination as government intrusion on private health care decisions; and those who believe vaccines’ benefits don’t outweigh the slim but real chance of adverse side effects or reactions.
Thus far, the Legislature has largely opted for maintaining the status quo.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.