By Craig Monger
During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Rep. Andrew Sorrel of Muscle Shoals gave his opinion of the state’s upcoming special session. Sorrel said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see various state medical issues addressed outside of the special session for redistricting.
“I think next special session it is somewhat possible," Sorrel said. “I say somewhat, I’m going to give it 50-50 odds that there are other bills included in the call of the special (session) beyond redistricting.”
Sorrel said he thinks medical freedom bills will come up.
“We have not done very much at all to protect individual freedom and liberty when it comes to medical rights in this state,” Sorrel said. “The only good thing that we’ve done that I’ve seen is Senate Bill 267 last year — I say last year, I mean last session — and passed it in May of this year. And it protected customers from discrimination based on vaccination status. What it did not do was protect employees from discrimination based on vaccination status. We need to see that bill. We need to see my anti-mask mandate bill for schools. Parents should be deciding whether or not their child wears a mask in school, not governmental entities. We don’t need the government to start making health choices for you.”
Sorrel told Poore that the legislature should take up some other issues during the redistricting special session in order to save taxpayer money.
Sorrel has not said whether he will be sponsoring any potential bills on medical freedom, but he did say that he would be very much in favor of any bills that limit the federal government’s ability to mandate masks, vaccines, or any other COVID related health measures.
“We need to make it illegal under Alabama law for a federal officer to try to come in and give someone a vaccine that they do not want,” Sorrell told Poore. “So, if they come into our state trying to do that, they’re actually going to be guilty of a crime under Alabama law. I think that’s how far we need to take this nullification, and some people would say that’s extreme. That’s not extreme. What’s extreme is Joe Biden signing executive orders telling 100 million people they have to get a vaccination. That is a personal choice you make with your doctor. I am not an anti-vaccine person. However, I am an anti-vaccine mandate person. I believe people should make that choice.”
Sorrel previously said that he would be introducing legislation to ban mask mandates in the school system and allow the decision to be left up to the parents of individual students. In August, Sorrel said that he wanted the legislature to act preemptively to ban the mandating of mask-wearing by school boards.
“I do support the right of parents who disagree with me to mask their kids,” Sorrell said. “That should be their choice. I believe in protecting the right of parents to mask their children in school just as much as I believe in protecting the right of parents to not mask their children in school.”
