More thoughts from Mary DaSilva, who spoke so eloquently at the April 5th Hands Off Rally:
I must confess it felt very good to shout my frustration to the heavens. I wish I could say so much more on this subject. I just wanted to weep this morning when I read that the Idaho House has passed a law forbidding the use of public funds to vaccinate "illegal aliens" or provide prenatal care to "illegal" pregnant women. We are in for many years of preventable epidemics. The last thing you want is to purposely create reservoirs of non-immune people in your community for the viruses to become endemic. Mexico did not have the Rubella vaccine until 1998, meaning that most Mexican people caught Rubella. It is a mild disease, except in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, when it causes severe birth defects. That is why the Texas School for the Blind was full of congenital rubella cases. It marked me forever to sit in a room full of children and teenagers with microcephaly, blind and deaf, knowing that it was only political will and money which prevented these kids from their fate.
For more information, see Mary's editorial in the Utah News Dispatch (4/18/2025)
