Meeting Public Comments

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

02-15-2022

Mayara Carneiro []

following this committee meeting to support HSB647. It's time to end medical discrimination. HSB647 needs to pass to protect Iowas from segregation. Article 1 Sec 6 of the Iowa Constitution states that "all laws shall have a uniform operation". This bill is necessary to support that no Iowan is treated like a second class citizen by any legal entity. There are so many heart wrenching stories of individuals whose employment is threatened or lost because they choose not to violate their consciences and to exercise a God given right to bodily autonomy. "The function of law is to protect the free exercise of these rights. and to prevent any person, from interfering with the free exercise of these same rights by any other person." Frdric Bastiat , La Loi/ The Law, pg 67 (1850). We urge you to pass to full floor discussion/ roll call vote.We are counting on your support!

02-16-2022

Anne Ball []

I am following in support of HSB 647 previously I wrote about healthcare workers in my area having their religious exemptions denied. Medical exemptions have been denied as well! A group of healthcare workers have been communicating together but many are afraid to speak out individually for fear of losing their job. One department in our hospital has gone so far as to make the unvaccinated healthcare workers eat at a separate table this is despicable. Freedom of choice in regard to our bodies bodily autonomy needs to be preserved.

02-16-2022

Ashley Lynn []

I've been a registered nurse for 10 years. When I had my first pair of kids 4 years ago, I was blindsided by the pushback I got from questions when it came to vaccines that I was innocently asking when it came to my newborn babies as a new mother. I quickly learned that it is policy of many hospital networks and clinics in Iowa that you have to vaccinate your children on time per the CDC recommended schedule or you can't be their patient. I was appalled. I had no idea my profession took part in such discrimination. I can't believe that just 4 years later, I'm concerned with my 4 children's future. If hospital systems can deny treatment based on vaccine status & businesses can require invasive medical interventions today for services and/or employment, what is it going to look like in 20 years when my kids are adults? Will businesses be allowed to force them to take birth control to alleviate undue stress on the company when it comes to lost work with bearing children? Will they be able to force them to take Tylenol for a headache? What about will they be able to discriminate against them for having a child and not pay for their short term disability? Where is the line and are we ready to draw it? People have come to think of freedom as 2 choices regardless of what those choices are. Technically with that type of definition I have the "freedom" to break any law. That's not freedom when there are consequences & retaliation involved. My sister works for JBS meat packing. She got covid in August, stayed home for 10 days and had her Short Term Disability approved. Even though her Short Term Disability was approved, JBS refused to pay it because she was not vaccinated. On top of that, she was threatened her job that day if she didn't get the first shot. So within 2 weeks of having actual Covid, she got her first shot under duress. She was in the ER within days with pleurisy. Studies show those with natural immunity have greater risk of adverse events when vaccinated.As someone living pay check to paycheck, she felt cornered in order to be able to feed her 4 kids. My mom works in healthcare. Her primary doctor of 17 years did not recommend it be in her best interest to get vaccinated for Covid due to her medical history, so he wrote her a medical exemption. It was denied by her workplace. How do the people reviewing the exemptions get to make the medical decision for my mom, never having met her, over her own doctor that knows her complete medical history? Working in healthcare in an institution that follows the CDC guidelines has been completely discriminatory. You could go without a mask if vaccinated but you had to wear specific types of masks if unvaccinated. It has created a hostile work environment when people's private medical information is on display to workers AND patients. While there is no current policy on visitors being vaccinated to visit loved ones, there have been multiple times I've witnessed healthcare personnel ask visitors if they're vaccinated making it seem as if they couldn't visit if they were unvaccinated. This is because we've created this discriminatory environment where we think it's okay to ask for personal health information and make decisions that effect people's livelihood based on the answer I urge you to pass this ultimate antidiscriminatory bill. Nobody should ever be treated as second class citizens for their personal medical decisions.It's simple: nobody should know, unless voluntarily provided, what your personal medical decisions are. What kind of future will my children live? Enslaved with their employers' blatant normalized discrimination or walking around freely with everyone else not knowing each others personal medical info like we have for decades?It's up to us to full stop stop the discrimination and the trajectory we are headed on.

02-16-2022

Jennifer Leonhard []

I am in favor of this bill. I was vaccine injured as a child. In 1994 my pediatrician told me to NEVER get another vaccine but he was unwilling to write a medical exemption because he was afraid of reprecussions from the medical board. I was a normal happy child. I had no indication that I would be predisposed to vaccine injury. No way for my doctor or parents to predict this outcome and yet it happened. It affected childhood greatly, but it didn't end there. My autoimmune condition made it difficult for my husband and I to have children. Over more than a decade i had dozens of miscarriages and 1 full term stillbirth. I held a dead baby before i ever got to hold my 2 living ones. This has a ripple effect. Only 17% of marriages survive child loss, and almost *half* of parents who lose a child commit suicide or are committed to an institution for severe mental health issues. I am a survivor. And I'm fighting for women and families who may endure the same *unpredictable* result. With my history I cannot risk my children getting an experimental shot. I am fighting for their future jobs. I am fighting for my future jobs. I lost my job in October because of the mandates coming down the pipeline. I worked through the pandemic, a part of keeping the Iowa Economy strong, but lost my job (of 12 years) because my employer did not deem my medical history valid the 23 year old retail store manager had zero medical training but was allowed to make this decision regarding my health. I was already segregated to a separate room from my coworkers, but that was not enough. I should not have to tell anyone about my dead children and beg them to understand or consider my medical history. I shouldn't need to answer questions about the intimate details of my reproductive organs. During my last shift at work I spent 2 hours answering questions about my sex life, mental health, and how my child died. I was still taken off the schedule and then terminated 60 days later. My dead baby was not good enough for them. When I gave birth in August of 2020 I was tested for covid but my birthing partner, my husband, was never tested. What sense does that make? He was with me the whole time and just as close to the nurses and midwife and our new baby as I was. This is clearly discrimination. These rules are arbitrary. They are assault on mothers who are in active labor.I should not have to give my life story in order to work, eat, or go shopping. This is medical discrimination. We must provide Iowans Medical Privacy and Freedom.

02-16-2022

Judy Mennen []

I support this bill. No one should have to choose a medical procedure to keep/get a job. You should also never have to reveal your health status to an employer. We dont have to disclose if we are HIV positive, or have hepatitis, or any other communicable diseases. Let people make the best decision for themselves.

02-16-2022

Robert L []

Please support passage of the Medical Freedom and Privacy Act. Body autonomy is a human right and is an essential part of a free society. No government nor business should have a say in your private medical decisions. Only an individual in consultation with their health provider should have any say over what medical procedures that individual makes an informed consent to be subjected to.My wife was vaccine injured as a child. We struggled for most of our marriage to have children, having had dozens of miscarriages and a stillbirth due to the damage done to her body from that injury. There is a high probability that our living children will be equally susceptible to vaccine injury. They have a right to freely choose to take that risk or not without it impacting their ability to go to school or earn a living.Recently my employer, like most private employers, violated my medical privacy in order to comply with the now unconstitutional OSHA rule by asking my private medical staus. Had this rule gone into effect, my choices would have been to take medicine I don't need, test and mask for a virus I don't have, or lose my job. This was not choice, this was coercion, medical rape, and federal tyranny. This one size fits all policy did not consider my extremely low risk factors, did not consider my natural immunity, did not consider my family history of heart disease and blood clotting issues, and totally stomped on any notion thay I have a right to freely deny what is put into my body, a right not to be medically raped.In my workplace, due to the chaos created by the mandating of shots, there has been much division, segregation, and discrimination. I have heard many slanders against unvaccinated persons, without regard to their private medical histories nor their basic human right to choose what to inject into their bodies. I have seen corporate policies imposed on those like myself to their strictest, while almost fully disregarded for teams of vaccinated people. I have seem many fully vaccinated people recklessly come to work sick, infect others, find out it was covid, and cause whole departments to segregate and work remote because members of that team were unvaccinated, regardless of actual exposure. I have also seen other teams break policy in the same scenario because all members were vaccinated. The damage done to our relationships at work and in society at large are beyond measure, as is the time it will take to move past this division.We need this bill not because of covid and these shots, but because no government nor employer under any circumstance should have the power to medically rape people, to force citizens or employees to subject themselves to a medical procedure against their will. Governments should not work to tear us apart by creating separate classes of citizens, as this mandate issue has done. People will make the best decision available in consultation with their health providers without coercion. For families like mine, we need this bill to protect our childrens' futures. Please support passage of the Medical Freedon and Privacy Act.

02-16-2022

Ryan Brancheau []

I wanted ask for your support & vote for HSB647 Medical Privacy & Freedom Act. I was denied a religious exemption & fired from my job. My family has experienced discrimination multiple times by employers, restaurants, & local businesses. My medical decisions & status is between me & my doctor. This has to stop. Thank you for your time & for your vote for this great legislation to help protect Iowans.

02-16-2022

Bethany N []

Writing in STRONG support of HSb 647!! My husband works for a company here in Iowa, who requires specific in person training to get raises. With covid, these trainings were put off for the last two years. Earlier this week he received a phone call from his boss letting him know that the place where these trainings takes place, the only place these trainings take place, was requiring any class participants to be vaccinated for covid. When my husband let his boss know that he would not be getting vaccinated his boss said he would get back to him. He received another phone call the next day and suddenly he was being given the option to test instead of vaccination. BUT he would be staying in an entirely different hotel than the vaccinated participants and be required to find his own transportation to the mechanical training site. Cause that makes perfect sense. If my husband refuses to get the vaccine or be tested, he is ineligible for a raise and would be until he complied. A $2 raise he has been waiting for since covid hit. A $2 raise our one income family could really use right now. Sure my husband could find another job if absolutely necessary but I worry about our children too. Our oldest is vaccine injured. He had a stroke after his 2 month vaccines. One of the quote unquote FDA approved ones, one they quote unquote test for years. It cost him the vision in his left eye and his voice for the first 5 years of his life. And years of therapy trying to reverse the damage. Our youngest, is completely vaccine free because of her older brothers vaccine injury. What is going to happen when our kids are old enough to get jobs? Is my son going to be refused a job if he doesn't get the covid vaccine? Then what? What about our daughter, who doesn't have a single vaccine? Will she be able to get a job? Will she be forced to face the same fate as our son when it gets to that point? Our son has a medical exemption, but no one will write one for her since she herself is not vaccine injured. Make that make sense. You know how bad the worker shortage is right now, do you have any idea how much worse this will get if this continues for decades? People aren't going to just comply. Our family wont at least. The risk of vaccine injury is too great for our family. Especially since if my husband complies and gets the vaccine, and ends up injured or killed. Then who will work? Who will raise and homeschool our children? I know a lot of the people testifying today are in the same exact boat as us. This bill passing and being in Iowa code will bring workers here. You and I both know it, the fight for medical freedom is here to stay, whether you like it or not. We the people, are fed up. We want the rights to our own bodies without the stupid incentives and consequences of not doing what the government tells us to. WE know what is best for our families, NOT the government or our employers.

02-16-2022

liz k []

please support this bill, Iowans need their medical freedom and privacy. I request you read the comments from the subcommittee meeting. Since there usually aren't comments on with the committee meetings and the subcommittee comments are still open, I would hate for anyone's stories not to be heard because of this confusion when so much is at stake. I will include those as both a link and an attachment. thankshttps://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/meetingPublicComment?meetingID=34861&action=viewCommitteePublicComments&fbclid=IwAR1Rufr0MTmJ54NViguZ9anykWMZ7eTpcjuZpNJXYW7MjHW2WINxi1DcM

Attachment

02-16-2022

Mike Davis []

I continue to ask for your support of this bill. I myself work for an Iowabased company that is currently requiring COVID19 vaccination to enter our offices in North America, attend inperson meetings, or travel for business purposes. This restriction has forced many Iowans to get the vaccine against their will, just so they can work in an office. The rhetoric from leadership is coercive and biased solely in favor of the vaccine, and the rigid stance on this restriction has created a new work environment where those employees who are not vaccinated and/or refuse to supply this information are treated as "second class employees" who are discriminated against. Many have chosen to leave the company and some have been denied religious exemptions and been terminated for speaking out and asking questions to management on this policy. There is little to no job protection for these employees, nor are there avenue for the unvaccinated to have their voices heard. This bill will provide these Iowans the much needed protection against retaliation for their choices, and give them back their voice. Please support HSB 647. Thank you.

02-16-2022

Bethany N []

Also wanted to make a public comment with the subcommittee public comments (including dozens of accounts of discrimination due to vax status right here in Iowa.) for HSB 647 as there were 268 in support, and 56 in opposition as of 11 am 2/16. I really feel like these public comments should follow a bill through its entire process..... https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/meetingPublicComment?meetingID=34861&action=viewCommitteePublicComments

02-16-2022

Nicole M []

I am asking there be a STRONG support of this bill. Iowans need to know that they can enter a hospital or medical facility without worrying about whether they will be treated with respect and care as well as have their medical needs met. The hospital is a place I dont want my family anywhere near right now, and I work there. People need to also know that they can provide for themselves and their family without fear of discrimination or worry for losing their job. Medical decisions need to be made after open conversations with ones medical practitioner about what is best for them and then ultimately the decision lies with the patient.

02-16-2022

Liz K []

Sorry for the second comment but here is my experience. I would still recommend reading the subcommittee comments I'll link again. Please support Iowans medical privacy and freedom. I work in healthcare and have personally been discriminated against for my medical status and I have witnessed patients being discriminated against as well. For almost the entirety of the pandemic those who declined the covid 19 shot and those who got it were treated the same. We all answered the same screening questions when coming on shift, did our temperature check, we all washed our hands and we all followed the same checklist for when to move to a higher level of PPE based on our patients symptoms. When Joe Biden came out calling for mandates everyone jumped to tow the line and overnight healthcare workers went from heroes everyone trusted to not being competent to make their own medical choices. Then when Iowa exemptions had to be accepted (even though they still aren't always) we saw segregation based on medical status. "Reasonable" accommodations don't seem to exist. From having to beg for your right to your own body autonomy and justify your medical and religious choices to invasive testing and wearing full aerosol PPE when for 18months none of that was needed, these accomodations are not reasonable they are punitive and discriminatory.I'm going to share some of my experience from my job that I have been committed to for the last 10yrs. Even before my employer started singling out the workers who declined the covid shots I was asked if I had had it in a casual conversation. When I declined to answer stating that we should not be normalizing sharing private health information I was then immediately asked about the vaccination status of my children. These next two are based on my mask I had to wear that announced my medical status. I had a coworker confront me about being unvaccinated and tell me that I was going to kill my young child. This was an especially hard conversation because I was vaccine injured while pregnant with one of my children and it was the dtap vaccine that almost killed them. Another time I was confronted about my medical status by a coworker because they just couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want this shot. Apparently she thought I needed to hear her thoughts on my medical choices. I've sat by listening to my co worker wish death on someone who hasn't taken the covid 19 shot because that will teach them. This last one is literally why protecting Iowans medical privacy is so important. Those in a position of power wishing death on you based on your medical status should be enough reason to protect personal health information. https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/meetingPublicComment?meetingID=34861&action=viewCommitteePublicComments&fbclid=IwAR1Rufr0MTmJ54NViguZ9anykWMZ7eTpcjuZpNJXYW7MjHW2WINxi1DcM

02-16-2022

Kerry Crouch []

I am in support of this bill. My religious exemption at my work was accepted. However, in order for my request to even be considered, I, along with hundreds of others at Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center, was required to answer questions about faith and personal medical choices that are classified as discriminatory in any other setting. That means those questions are illegal. We are now required to sign a form stating we understand the new segregation policy established specifically for unvaccinated employees. The signature line specifically states "unvaccinated" So, thank you for your time and consideration into this new bill.

02-16-2022

Earl Canfield [Canfield Family Farm]

We are a selfemployed farm family in northeast Iowa. We fully support The Medical Privacy and Freedom Act (HSB647) and urge you to pass it into Iowa law.We were not directly negatively affected by the medical mandates of the last two years, but know many people who were and are right now. No public or private entity should have the opportunity to discriminate against anyone in regards to their personal medical decisions. We are NOT a truly free people if we are not allowed to make our own personal medical decisions without fear of retribution in some way.Both the constitution and the Nuremberg Code guarantee individuals the right to make uncoerced, fullyinformed decisions about these important issues of personal health and wellbeing. It is time that Iowa law reflected this clearly. The passing of HSB647 will accomplish this important task. Please do what is right for all Iowans and pass this important bill into Iowa law.

02-16-2022

Jane Canfield []

Please support and move HSB647 forward to protect the medical freedom and privacy of all Iowans. We attended the subcommittee meeting last week and heard many testimonies over several hours. Some Iowans have suffered greatly because their medical freedom and privacy are not protected. This is not and should not be a partisan issue. Please vote to protect the rights of ALL Iowans by moving this bill forward. Thank you!

02-16-2022

Ann Tebbs []

Im writing to support this bill. After being asked to answer religious exemption questions that would normally be illegal, I was denied an exemption from the experimental vaccine and lost my job. The motivation for coercing employees to do this is not clear, and there does not appear to be scientific support behind these decisions. Please pass this bill into law, which would stop employers from running roughshod over our medical freedom and bodily autonomy.