Chairman Sensenbrenner Backs Majority Leader DeLay on the
Importance of Parental Rights
Provided as a public service by Gary Konigsberg of
http://human-rights-online.org
Congressman James Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, has weighed in on the importance of maintaining
parental consent rights. These parental rights are now in
jeopardy if H.R. 181, The Parental Consent Act of 2005 dies in
committee.
Congressman Sensenbrenner has emphatically stated, "It is not,
and should not be, the role of government to subject children to
arbitrary mental health screenings without the consent of their
parents. Parents, children, and their private doctors should
determine whether a child has mental health problems, not
government bureaucrats."
His statement comes just after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
stood up for parental rights and released this statement last
week. "In the wake of the creation of psychiatric labels, every
parent should be wary of relinquishing their responsibility to
the government to define and assess their child's mental health
status."
The highly controversial issue of mandatory mental health
screening programs of American school children initiated by the
President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is the
subject of widespread debate. This debate arises due to the use
of subjective, unscientific psychological testing methods used
for screening children for mental illness without the provision
of full parental informed consent in place. This "testing" is
currently awaiting federal funds to expand the implementation of
screening programs nationwide.
"If H.R. 181 is passed it will prevent wasteful and potentially
devastating federal funding while safeguarding the informed
consent rights of all parents in what is a most serious matter,
their children's health and safety", says Patricia Weathers
President and co-founder of Ablechild.org a national non-profit
group of parents committed to ensuring that the issue of
informed consent and an individual's right to "opt out" of
psychological testing is a national priority.
Dr. Grace Jackson, a board certified psychiatrist since 1996
recently stated, "Contrary to the reports which have been
emphasized by the major news outlets, there is no evidence to
justify the claim that psychiatric disorders arise from anatomic
or physiological abnormalities in the brain. Based upon a
variety of theoretical and practical limitations, the functional
imaging technologies cannot identify the origin of mental
phenomena."
In light of such growing controversial fervor and obvious lack
of agreement on the issue of psychiatric diagnoses within the
medical establishment itself, any promotion or implementation of
mandated, which is equivalent to forced, screening methods
should be viewed as a national threat to public health, and
should be challenged by the American public.
For more information on mental health screening programs,
psychiatric drug risks, and the FDA's warnings regarding
psychiatric drugs, please visit www.ablechild.org .
Ablechild is an IRS approved, nonprofit, tax-exempt, Section
501(c) (3) charitable organization, and donations are tax
deductible under the provisions of the IRS Code. Ablechild and
the Ablechild logo is a Trademark of Ablechild, Inc.