(LIFESITE NEWS) – Most new parents have no idea that by the time they leave the hospital with their newborn, a sample of their child’s blood has already been sent to the state government. Depending on the state, the government may store and use their child’s blood for anywhere from months to indefinitely – and not only is it legal, it’s actually mandated by law.
Each American state has its own newborn screening program through which healthcare professionals who deliver babies are required to collect a blood sample in order to test for rare genetic or metabolic diseases. Only in two states, Maryland and Minnesota, are healthcare practitioners even required to obtain parental consent. Wyoming law technically requires parents’ “written consent,” but is worded vaguely enough that in practice, it amounts to a system that must be opted-out of rather than opted into. Utah allows a “religious exemption” that mandates the parents report their religion to the state – and it must be “a specified, well recognized, religious organization whose teachings are contrary to the testing required by Utah law for each newborn infant.”
The issue of state governments harvesting the DNA of almost every newborn has received sporadic attention from health-freedom advocates over the years.
