Madison, WI — The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin (LPWI) unequivocally opposes the legislative efforts, led by Rep. Lisa Subeck and Sen. Chris Larson, to abolish Wisconsin’s personal conviction exemption for childhood vaccinations. These governmental efforts to further erode parental and personal choice constitute a direct assault on medical freedom, bodily autonomy, and parental rights—core principles the Libertarian Party will always defend.
Why This Bill Must Be Rejected:
• It eliminates meaningful informed consent.** Wisconsin currently allows parents to decline one or more vaccines for medical, religious, or personal conviction reasons. Revoking the right to refuse vaccination based on personal conviction leaves only narrow medical and religious exemptions, putting what should be an individual’s decision in the hands of either a state-sanctioned expert or a faith-based collective. Medical and religious considerations can factor into an individual’s choice—but an individual’s choice cannot be forcibly outsourced to others.
• It dramatically expands state power over the human body. **Compelling individuals and parents to inject substances into their own or their children’s bodies against their judgment or conscience crosses an unacceptable line in the way of physical autonomy and sets a dangerous precedent for future mandates or prohibitions of any kind, especially those invoked in the interest of what an easily-compromised government or bureaucracy might deem health or safety.
• It overrides the fundamental rights of parents.
No bureaucrat or legislator has the moral authority to substitute their judgment for that of fit parents regarding what is best for their own children.
• It will further erode public trust in institutions.
Coercive measures breed resentment and skepticism, not cooperation. If public health officials want to see higher vaccination rates, they should focus on transparency, accountability, voluntary education, and humility, not on removing the individual’s last remaining philosophical escape valve: Conviction and the choice to act.
“Social progress comes when people have the authority to develop their own personal convictions and act in a way that upholds them,” says Reese Wood, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin. “The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin calls on every member of the Wisconsin Legislature—Republican, Democrat, and Independent alike—to vote NO on this totalitarian proposal and to reaffirm that Wisconsin remains a state that respects individual liberty and family sovereignty.”
True public health is a matter of protecting human agency by improving access to resources that facilitate informed action. Compulsion, and refusing the individual’s right to refuse, should never enter the picture.
