MONTGOMERY — Heather Moore, the wife of U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), showed up in the Montgomery State House on Tuesday, speaking alongside State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity) and other state lawmakers to advocate for legislation prohibiting employers and other entities from retaliating or discriminating against an those who refuse to receive vaccines or wear facial coverings.
House Bill 530 (HB520) was filed in the Alabama House of Representatives at the beginning of April and assigned to the House Health Committee. However, it was never placed on the committee’s calendar to receive a public hearing or vote.
The bill would prohibit an employer or prospective employer from discriminating against someone based on their refusal of certain drugs, vaccines or facial coverings for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions. The prohibition would also apply to public accommodations, hospitals and health insurers.
The prohibition on facial coverings does not apply to surgical masks used during surgical, medical, or dental procedures.
The bill would also prohibit state licensing boards from refusing, denying or removing licenses due to an applicant or licensee’s vaccination status.
The bill’s provisions create legal protections and recourses for those who are discriminated against, including authorizing the attorney general to prosecute state entities and defend a citizen against attempted reprisal from the federal government.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Yarbrough discussed the perceived benefits of his bill. He acknowledged that, due to the inaction on his legislation, it would be impossible to pass this session. However, he pledged to pre-file it soon after this session concludes to get the ball rolling early next year.
In addition to Moore, Yarbrough was joined by some of the bill’s co-sponsors: State Reps. Ben Harrison (R-Elkmont) and Mack Butler (R-Rainbow City).
“We think that it is important to stand for Alabama, and give them the right to refuse and make decisions with their doctor over their health and their body,” Yarbrough said. “Because, at the end of the day, you can’t take a vaccine off, so those decisions need to be made in an appropriate way.”
He continued, “We do tell businesses what to do all the time. We also have a duty as states, when the federal government gets out of its lane, because we’re a republic, we’re not a top-down tyranny, it’s our job to push back and demand that the federal government stays within its proper lanes.”
Moore was next to take the mic, detailing personal stories of interactions with those who became vaccine-injured or expelled from their school or occupation for refusing a vaccine.
“I’m here today, honestly, as the mother-in-law of someone who’s vaccine-injured [and] the daughter of someone who is vaccine-injured,” Moore said.
She continued, “I’m here as the mom of a young lady who was a senior in nursing school at Auburn University, had worked incredibly hard, has a work ethic like you can’t believe, who had to drop out of nursing school as a senior because she refused to vaccinate for COVID-19. She’s now a schoolteacher with a master’s degree in education and is doing fantastic, but it turned her life upside down, and why? All because she did not want to take an experimental vaccine.”
In what appeared to be an exculpatory rendering of Alabama and other states’ reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore stated that state leaders made decisions out of “ignorance and fear.” Despite this acknowledgement, Moore emphasized the need to prevent similar restrictions from affecting Alabamians in the future.
“Liberty has to be number-one, and that’s what this bill is about,” she continued. “People in the state of Alabama should not have to beg for our Constitutional rights. And if we do not have the right to decide what we put in our bodies, then what rights do we have? Especially something that was experimental.”
While the bill clearly had its genesis from the COVID-19 pandemic, Yarbrough continued to stress that his legislation deals with vaccinations across the board, not just the novel mRNA products rolled out in late 2020.
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