Was Arizona Family that had Police Break Down Their Door at 1 A.M. Targeted by Medical Community Because They Don’t Vaccinate Their Children?
A story out of Arizona that we first reported at the beginning of March has received national attention, due to video footage of police breaking down the family's door in the middle of the night because the parents did not take one of their children who had a fever to the local hospital at the request of a doctor. The police and social workers removed all 3 children from the home. In our original coverage of this story, we mentioned a quote from the parents that they did not vaccinate their children, but the parents did not, at the time, think this was a factor in their removal. In a follow up report published in the Arizona Republic by Dianna M. Náñez after the parents' first court hearing, Arizona Representative Kelly Townsend, who attended the court hearing, stated: “It was brought to my attention that these parents may have been targeted by the medical community because they hadn’t vaccinated their children.” Arizona law allows for parents to opt out of vaccines for their children for religious or medical reasons. Townsend said parents who don’t vaccinate their children because of medical concerns aren’t criminals and shouldn’t be treated as such. She worried physicians were using it as a reason to refer parents to DCS. “I think if DCS decides to use this as a factor they would be violating a parent’s right to have a personal exemption, a religious exemption and perhaps a medical exemption,” she said.