The GOP’s Double Standard: Parental Choice for Vaccines, Government Control for Abortion

Republicans love to preach about “medical freedom,” demanding that the government never interfere when it comes to vaccines. They talk about protecting parental rights and trusting families to make health decisions — not politicians.

Florida’s Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo, even compared vaccine mandates to “slavery,” insisting that inoculations must remain a personal choice. Governor DeSantis pushed “Make America Healthy Again,” undermining long-standing vaccine requirements in a supposed defense of parental authority. In Louisiana, state policies halted widespread vaccination outreach, prompting Republican physician Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to warn it was “a disservice to parents who want to keep their children healthy.”

When vaccines are concerned, the message is clear: the government must stay out of medical decisions. Parents and doctors should decide.

But on abortion? All that so-called medical freedom disappears. Now the GOP says the government has every right to decide whether a woman can terminate a dangerous or nonviable pregnancy — even when her health is at stake.

Senator Lindsey Graham, who once favored letting states decide abortion policy, introduced a federal 15-week ban as a “national minimum…