Mississippi, No Longer Stuck with the Jab

The prevailing consensus among most Mississippians, and arguably the general south, is that Mississippi is a very stable red state because we have a Republican supermajority. We are the heart of the Bible Belt. The truth is, we are not. In fact, regarding Mississippi legislation, we are a deep purple state. There is clearly one disturbing reason why. In 1979, the Mississippi Supreme Court decision in the Brown v. Stone case ruled that a religious exemption was unconstitutional.^[i]  For 44 years, Mississippi’s children attending school have had to be vaccinated with the full pediatric vaccination schedule. Furthermore, Mississippi’s vaccine laws continued to violate The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2014 by the most restrictive means.^[ii]

With the Supreme Court ruling in place from 1979, Mississippi families were catapulted back to tyranny and usurpations - the same type of tyranny of which the American Founders warned us. Most of the organized work to restore medical and religious freedom came from incredibly gifted parents and advocates who understood that the family was the first institution designed by God and that government does not grant rights to citizens; it secures them and is of the people, for the people, and by the people. These families understood well what the U.S. Constitution’s Ninth and Tenth Amendments meant. These families co-founded Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights and Medical Freedom, and they worked for well over a decade in an impeccably organized manner to effect change through the legislative process, gaining armies of families along the journey.

For almost 14 years, the so-called conservative leadership in Mississippi has failed, and miserably so. Through bicameral legislative attempts, over 23 bills have been advocated for through the Mississippi legislature, only to die on the calendar or in committee. These bills all sought religious or medical freedoms for Mississippi children and families. This super-majority Republican legislature killed every one of these life-giving, principled bills.

Clearly, this is a huge hot-button issue. And there are many that rebut and argue the recent Federal ruling that has set a precedent for the nation. The haters have certainly arisen with their rhetoric about all the “humanity killing, anti-vax, nutjob quacks.” We see it. We read it. And even these lightweight, misaligned, self-proclaimed conservative outlets propagate ignorance. We will not stop appealing to reason with objective truth and hard-core facts time and time again until there is no one left to hear. It is our duty, and we gladly take up the banner.

With deep conviction and an appeal to reason tempered through the art of argument, we list eight of the most urgent points to submit for your consideration regarding the topic. We do so for the sake of truth. An utmost priority when forming core values and convictions is to have a holistic perspective when discussing a matter, especially a topic that is undeniably charged. Consider the following:

1)    Forty-four states permit their citizens to educate their children in the school system while also allowing religious objections to mandated childhood vaccinations. Until the recent Mississippi federal court order, Mississippi was a radical outlier. One of the very few states that suppressed religious freedoms in the vaccination arena. California and New York are amongst the remaining five states that have eradicated religious freedom in the childhood vaccination arena. Again, Mississippi has now joined the super-majority of states that respect religious freedom. The sky is not going to fall.

2)    Many Mississippians have profound objections to abortion, and several of the required vaccines were developed using the chopped-up body parts of normally developing children. For example, in just one study related to the development of vaccines, at least seventy-six normally developing babies were aborted, and while keeping the fetuses alive to harvest their body parts, nearly every body part was chopped up into little cubes to culture viruses on, including their tongues, livers, intestines, pituitary glands, kidneys, and hearts. Here is a link to the deposition of Dr. Stanley Plotkin--referred to as the "Godfather of vaccines"--where he candidly discusses working with mutilated body parts of normally developing babies in furtherance of his vaccination research.^[iii]

3)    Also, many required vaccines under Mississippi law contain genetic and cellular material derived from aborted fetuses – materials that are injected directly into children’s bodies as a condition of receiving an education in Mississippi. This is plainly stated on the package inserts for several of the required vaccines. For example, according to CDC documents, “WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts” is listed as an ingredient of the MMR vaccine, and “MRC-5 human diploid cells including DNA & protein” is listed as an ingredient of the Varicella (Chicken Pox) vaccine.^[iv]

4)    There are some families in Mississippi, although they are admittedly very few, that have profound religious objections to injecting these materials into their children's bodies, although the Pope and evangelical denominations say they endorse the practice.  

5)    Whether or not the mandated vaccines are "safe and effective" are irrelevant to families' religious objections to participating in abortion (or to any other religious objection to vaccination). However, it must be noted that in the childhood vaccination arena, "safe" is a relative term. In 1986, Congress gave vaccine manufacturers complete and total liability protection from vaccine injuries (primarily because they were about to be sued into bankruptcy due to vaccine injuries). The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 was passed.  In other words, since 1986, you cannot sue a vaccine manufacturer if your child is injured by a vaccine. Rather, since 1986, taxpayers, instead of the pharmaceutical companies, have paid out billions of dollars to the families of vaccine-injured children in what is called the "vaccine court" (in Washington, D.C.). It is, therefore, disingenuous to argue that the mandated vaccines are undisputedly "safe.” Like all pharmaceutical products, there is a risk profile. However, for childhood vaccines--the only pharmaceutical product that virtually the entire U.S. population is mandated to take--there is much less incentive now for vaccine manufacturers to make a safer product because of the 1986 Act. Why would they make a safer product if taxpayers foot the bill for vaccine injuries? Paying for further safety research, especially research that may reveal safety issues of past products, is simply a bad business decision under the current system. The companies are not evil for continuing the current system, they are just making good business decisions.

6)     Since the National Childhood Vaccination Injury Act of 1986 was passed, the number of required vaccines has exploded. Again, it is just a good business model. The more liability-free products that are mandated onto the population, the better. Prior to the Act, when liability for injuries was attached to the manufacturers, there were only a select few vaccines required for school. Consequently, many, if not most, of the teachers in the school system born before 1986 have not received all of the currently required vaccines. This has been the case for almost 40 years now. And again, the sky has not fallen.

7)     Mississippi has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country (around 99%). If the vaccines are truly protective, the entire debate about the purported dangers of allowing families to exercise their religious beliefs revolves around a tiny fraction of unvaccinated children. If the products are truly effective, how is allowing an unvaccinated child to receive a formal education going to endanger the 99% of vaccinated children in school?

8)    American Jurisprudence is founded on the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. It is the Higher Moral Law of God. God's Law is objective, not subjective. The Higher Moral Law of God is the cornerstone of our nation. We do not force our beliefs on anyone, nor should we. It is what makes our Constitutional Republic unique and special. However, The Right of Conscience is the most sacred of inalienable rights, and a person's conscience is what drives their core values, morals, ethics, and religion. By founding intent, we are pillared and structured as a nation to fiercely protect the Right of Conscience for every American citizen.  The government, under no circumstance, has the Constitutional authority to usurp power or rule over an individual's conscience. It is the ultimate governmental violation. The government exists of the people, by the people, and for the people. Otherwise, you have tyranny. We need to restore liberty and freedom to our nation per the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

Because the legislative route failed year in and year out to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to protect the inalienable rights of every citizen, especially of our vulnerable children, ICAN’s attorneys, headed by Aaron Siri, Esq., clinched one of the most monumental court cases in history in April of 2023. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that required Mississippi to provide religious exemptions to families, especially those who would like their children to be able to attend school without one or more of the vaccines on the state’s pediatric vaccine schedule. By July 15, 2023, the Mississippi Department of Health had a deadline to provide Mississippi citizens an exemption avenue for their children to be able to attend school. In the time between, the Court issued a 39-page Memorandum Opinion and Order to expound on the ruling and the reason for the ruling. Many Mississippi families are already filling the appointment slots at the health departments to fill out the necessary paperwork. Do be patient; many of the workers have just learned of the federal ruling. It will take some time to get the kinks ironed out, but the process will smooth out soon.

You simply cannot be in good American Constitutional standing and favor secularism over faith and the conduct that flows out of a person’s deeply seeded religious convictions as a result of that faith. It is the antithesis of the American Founding. After 44 years of egregiously unconstitutional usurpations by modern-day tyrants standing against the Higher Moral Law of God, Mississippi families tasted freedom. But the work is not over. There are five other states still adversely affected by tyrannical legislative oppression that need to be set free. The precedent is set. We implore you to join the fight and share the information you have learned. We ask that you plug into groups such as https://icandecide.org/ to stay caught up on the legal team’s efforts around the nation. This could very well be your state next.

In the fight for Mississippi’s freedom, it would have been so easy to give up and go home. It is a testament to the resolve of faith-filled, educated families in this state. It is a testament to the profound importance of Constitutional courts and judges. It is a testament to the passion that burns in every one of us who long to be free and have liberty the way God intended. It is a testament to the endurance of the American pioneering spirit, which makes people venture into the unknown and uncharted and unsettled territories to claim something worthy. In the same spirit, we Mississippi families are warriors who are willing to put in the time to pray through and act on the demolition work that needs to be done to bring strongholds down, and we will always, always work to advance the troop movement.

“Sacred duty is ours; results are God’s.”-John Q. Adams

Rebecca Chaney is the Director for Restore Liberty Mississippi, and she sits on the board for the Mississippi Freedom Caucus. She is a lifetime Patriot Academy Constitution Coach and has hosted Biblical Citizenship and Constitutional classes since 2020. She has helped to start these classes all across the state of Mississippi. She is a homeschool Mom of seven years to her son and daughter. You can read more of her work at https://substack.com/@rebeccachaney and www.restore-liberty.org

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^[i] https://law.justia.com/cases/mississippi/supreme-court/1979/51553-0.html

^[ii] https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/2014/title-11/chapter-61/section-11-61-1/

^[iii] https://www.sirillp.com/plotkin-abortion/

^[iv] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf.