Justina Pelletier visited Washington, D.C., Wednesday to tell members of Congress about the ordeal she experienced at the hands of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Pelletier urged Congress to pass “Justina’s Law,” a bill named after her that would defund involuntary medical research upon children in state custody. Liberty Counsel began representing the Pelletiers in late February and worked diligently in the courts to free Justina. Liberty Counsel’s office in Washington, D.C., arranged for her testimony Wednesday, along with other meetings with legislators this week.
By invitation of Rep. Michele Bachmann, Pelletier told her story to more than 70 members of Congress at the Republican Study Committee (RSC). Wednesday’s testimony before the RSC was only the second time in the committee’s history that a non-RSC member has addressed the committee.
“She’s now free, and the purpose of Justina’s law will be to make sure this never, ever, ever, happens again, and Justina hit it out of the park when she spoke to numerous members of Congress today to ask them to support Justina’s law,” Bachmann told FoxCT.
After sharing her story, Pelletier received a standing ovation, and 13 members co-sponsored the bill on the spot. Pelletier will meet with a bipartisan group of legislators Thursday, followed by a press conference at 11 a.m. ET on Capitol Hill.
Currently, wards of the state who are in DCF custody may be subjected to unproven medical treatments, even without direct benefit to the child.
“Children are not guinea pigs and should not be treated as such,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Funding such treatment creates a perverse incentive for hospitals to claim ‘medical abuse’ on the part of parents, and for states to rubber-stamp such claims and remove children from their loving parents and turn them over to the hospitals, all with federal tax dollars.”
“Justina’s Law is not about politics,” Staver said. “It is about protecting families and children from financially conflicted medical researchers and state overreach.”
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