Pennsylvanians Spoke Up. The Health Department Withdrew Its Sweeping Regulations.

By The PCIC Team

Grassroots organizations dug into Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration’s 502-page disease-control proposal, explained the concerns and helped Pennsylvanians respond.

Then thousands spoke up.

On Sept. 25, the Pennsylvania Department of Health withdrew its proposed Chapter 27 rewrite from consideration by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC).

This was a historic public response — and a victory worth celebrating.

The department acknowledged receiving a historically high volume of feedback. According to CBS 21, regulatory packages usually receive three to five comments; this proposal received more than 10,000. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that more than 10,000 comments opposed the changes.

People shared resources, contacted legislators and submitted objections. Their participation helped bring this proposal to a screeching halt.

Why grassroots groups sounded the alarm

Pennsylvania Coalition for Informed Consent (PCIC) submitted a detailed letter asking the department to withdraw the proposal and identify the exact statutory authority for each significant expansion of power.

Our concerns included:

• Broader disease-control measures without clearly defined thresholds, duration limits or prompt appeal procedures.
• Government entry into private locations and expanded access to medical records.
• Private interviews with minor students without explicit parental notification safeguards.
• Mandatory vaccination reporting to PIERS (Pennsylvania Immunization Electronic Registry System) that would default to inclusion unless patients declined in writing.
• Expanded surveillance, reporting burdens and school exclusion provisions.
• Removal of religious treatment protections.
• Authority affecting animals, animal products, food and property. PCIC’s concern was that this could be worse than the draconian COVID-19-era measures: extraordinary restrictions could become standing administrative powers rather than temporary responses to a declared emergency. Our letter questioned proposed language changes intended to overcome limitations identified in the school-mask litigation.

The department defended the package as modernization. An agency spokesperson told CBS 21 that Shapiro had not personally proposed the regulations and characterized attempts to misconstrue them to frighten residents as “inaccurate and disingenuous.”

Citizens were entitled to question the actual language.

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How we got here

Chapter 27 did not arrive in isolation:

• August-October 2025: Lawmakers proposed bills shifting vaccine policy authority toward state health officials and medical organizations. The Shapiro administration criticized federal vaccine-policy changes, and Shapiro signed Executive Order 2025-02 on Oct. 1 to establish a separate state approach to vaccine access and guidance.
• May-July 2026: Shapiro signed Senate Bill 507, creating a Pennsylvania licensing pathway for certified midwives with graduate-level midwifery training who are not nurses. Traditional midwives, including those serving Amish families, questioned whether the legislation clearly protected their ability to continue practicing outside that licensing system. On July 2, traditional midwives and an Amish family challenged the state in court, seeking clarification and access to the certification process established under the 1929 Midwife Regulation Law. Ten days later, Shapiro signed budget implementation legislation repealing that law — the framework the plaintiffs sought to enforce. The plaintiffs argue that the repeal deepened their legal uncertainty, while the attorney general’s office maintains that traditional midwives may continue practicing without certificates.
• June 10, 2026: The Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Education (DOE) sent school administrators and nurses a joint letter emphasizing annual immunization reporting through the School Immunization Law Report system. It also announced plans to publish vaccination data by individual schools.
• August 2026: On Aug. 3, the administration announced its public school-level vaccination data tool, including exemption rates, explicitly linking it to Shapiro’s October 2025 executive order. Chapter 27 was published Aug. 8. An Aug. 19 DOH/DOE letter urged schools to review immunity records for students, staff and volunteers, prepare exposure-response plans, and share required information with health officials. It also directed schools to measles guidance and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention preparedness toolkit. On Aug. 25, Shapiro announced expanded vaccination efforts following two reported measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County.

PCIC sees these overlapping actions as a coordinated attack on informed consent, parental rights and religious liberty. For Amish families relying on traditional birth care and making medical decisions according to their beliefs, the implications are deeply personal.

Who put concerns on the record?

Joint letters came from 85 House members and 21 senators. Some legislators submitted individual comments. Rep. George Margetas and Senators Dan Laughlin, Tracy Pennycuick and Devlin Robinson did not sign their chambers’ joint letters but submitted their own letters to IRRC.

Democrat lawmakers were largely absent from the public debate. Rep. Dan Frankel, chairman of the House Health Committee, was the only Democrat identified in the published legislative-comment list. He supported several key provisions while recommending changes.

Rep. Arvind Venkat, the only medical doctor in the Pennsylvania legislature, questioned Republican interpretations but acknowledged: “That doesn’t mean they’re wrong, but it certainly doesn’t mean they’re right either.”

That uncertainty underscores why public scrutiny mattered. Families deserve clear safeguards in written regulations.

Celebrate — and carry this victory forward

The health department intends to revise and resubmit the proposal. We stopped this package from advancing. Now let’s help make that victory last.

If Shapiro wins reelection and if Democrats retain the House and the Senate flips, they could seek to put these policies into state law. Those statutory changes would not require IRRC approval, although constitutional limits would still apply.

Pennsylvanians have pushed back successfully before. In 2021, voters approved constitutional amendments limiting the governor’s emergency powers, including requiring legislative approval to extend disaster declarations beyond 21 days. In 2024, Pennsylvania swung Republican in the presidential election as MAHA brought health freedom into the national political debate.

For those of us working to protect informed consent, that momentum was encouraging.

This victory belongs to everyone who helped others understand the proposal, submit comments and make their voices heard. It shows what we can accomplish when we get involved.

Ask candidates direct questions. Demand commitments to informed consent, parental rights, medical privacy and religious liberty. Share verified information, keep speaking out — and vote.

We spoke up, and the department withdrew its proposal. On Nov. 3, let’s elect leaders who will respect those freedoms from the start.

The Pennsylvania Coalition for Informed Consent (PCIC) is an all-volunteer grassroots organization founded in 2015 in response to the nationwide push to remove vaccine exemptions and expand mandates following the measles outbreak linked to Disneyland. Through public education, community outreach, and legislative advocacy, PCIC works to protect informed consent, medical freedom, and transparency in matters affecting health. Its mission includes medical procedures, data privacy, and the food, water, air, and environment we all depend on. Learn more at InformedConsentPA.org.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Children’s Health Defense.

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