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The Connecticut Senate tomorrow, April 27, will debate and vote on House Bill 6423. If the bill passes and is signed into law by Gov. Lamont, religious exemptions will no longer be available for any student, of any age, with the exception of possibly “grandfathering” in of those who already hold exemptions if amendments are made to the bill.

The Connecticut Freedom Alliance, Informed Choice Connecticut and other state medical freedom groups have organized a “Rise Up Rally” to begin at 9 a.m. April 27, and continue until the final vote on HB 6423 has been cast. The rally will be held at the State Capitol Building, 210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut 06106.

Featured speakers will be Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense; Del Bigtree founder and host of the HighWire and founder of Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN); attorney Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense president and general counsel; advocate and author Curtis Cost; constitutional attorney James Mermigis.; Dr. and Pastor Aaron Lewis and more!

As The Defender reported previously, Connecticut moved one step closer to losing religious exemptions to mandatory school vaccinations when the bill to repeal religious exemptions in Connecticut passed in the House last week.

Now it comes down to the Senate vote on Tuesday.

If the bill passes as currently written, the religious exemption would be removed immediately for all children and students in daycare, preschool, kindergarten through 12th grade in both public and private schools and colleges.

However, a proposed amendment to the bill may allow religious exemptions already on file for students currently enrolled and those students would be allowed to remain in school with their religious exemptions.

New students would be unable to obtain religious exemptions, which in effect will segregate families with younger siblings who are not yet school-age.

All of this is being done in the name of a nonexistent, hypothetical future “emergency” outbreak of a so-called “vaccine-preventable illness,” one that has never occurred in Connecticut since the religious exemption law was enacted in 1959. Measures are put in place in the event of an outbreak to protect the children who are exempt.

A Connecticut Department of Health survey from February 2021 shows the state has a 97.5% vaccination rate currently for this school year. The same state data show the number of religious exemptions and medical exemptions on file decreased for the 2019-2021 school year. There is no proven public health risk posed by the less than 1% of students who have religious exemptions, despite some legislators’ efforts to convince the public otherwise.

Please spread the word about Tuesday’s rally to stop the loss of a fundamental right in yet another state (after the same loss occurred in California, Maine and New York in previous years). This is a dangerous trend of erosion of our liberties and First Amendment rights.

This will be a family-friendly event, food and beverages will be available to rally-goers. Parking is available in metered spots on the streets around the Capitol and other nearby lots.

In the video below, Stephanie Locricchio, Children’s Health Defense advocacy liaison, interviews LeeAnn Ducat about the upcoming “Rise Up Rally” in Connecticut.

Watch here: