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A Republican-led effort in the state Senate to assert parents’ authority to dictate what their minor children learn in school and determine health care they receive won preliminary approval Wednesday after a spirited debate.
The main effect of the legislation, although it went unacknowledged by supporters, would prevent teenagers from receiving birth control without parental approval and make it a crime for a physician to provide care to a minor without parent consent.
The measure also reaffirms current law that allows parents to remove their children from sex education and opt out of immunization requirements, a conversation that comes as Colorado faces scrutiny for some of the most lax vaccination laws in the nation.
Republican lawmakers pushed the legislation — titled the “Parent’s Bill of Rights” — because they said it was needed to prevent government intervention in parenting. Democratic critics labeled it a political manifesto that eroded children’s rights.
“This bill defends and establishes clearly in state policy that parents do have a fundamental right, responsibility and authority to raise their children,” said Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud.
The legislation — approved on a party-line vote — is the latest from Senate GOP leaders that touches on social issues and appeals to their more diehard supporters.
Colorado rejected a ballot measure with the same title and similar intent two decades ago. And with a split General Assembly, the GOP push is expected to die in the Democrat-led House.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, outlines nine parental rights to give them authority over every aspect of their children’s education and health.
It also requires school districts to adopt a long list of policies to protect parental rights, including a mandate that schools notify parents about how they can opt out of data collection efforts, school lessons and immunizations.
The vaccination language received a good deal of attention from critics who said its inclusion sent the wrong message at a time when Colorado ranks 45th in the nation on vaccination rates for children 19-35 months old.
Sen. Vicki Marble, a GOP leader from Fort Collins, said opponents of the bill in an earlier committee “demonized parents.”
“It was as if they were almost going to outlaw parenting,” she said. “Support the bill to get the kids back in the family and out of the government.”
Senate Democratic leader Morgan Carroll called the legislation a “No Bill of Rights for Our Kids.”
Allowing parents to intervene in schools on such a level “is a mandate for a completely schizophrenic and unenforceable situation,” she said.
Democrats took aim at parts of the legislation to add criminal penalties for school officials and physicians who offer mental or physical health care in nonemergency cases without obtaining parental permission.
Two Republicans — Senate President Pro Tem Ellen Roberts of Durango and Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik of Thornton — broke party ranks to join Democrats in supporting a measure to eliminate the restraints on providing mental health care in schools.
But the GOP unified to stop an attempt to remove the notification requirement for physician care, such as prescribing contraception and offering care for sexually transmitted diseases.
A third vote on the bill is expected Thursday.
John Frank: 303-954-2409
Parent’s bill of rights
Key points of Senate Bill 77:
