By Zachery Schmidt
The Center Square

A new bill proposes giving Arizonans the chance to vote on whether the right of refusal in medical situations should be guaranteed in the state Constitution.

State Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Yuma, introduced House Concurrent Resolution 2056, which will prevent government entities from forcing people “to accept, receive or administer any medical product or treatment” as a condition for work, school or public access. Kupper proposed the amendment following his experience with being required to accept what he called an unapproved version of the COVID-19 vaccine when he was in the Air Force.

Kupper’s resolution provides exceptions for court order treatments, people in the criminal justice system, life-saving medical care, parental authority and state diagnostic requirements.

The resolution also states the constitutional amendment will not override federal legal requirements.

If the bill passes the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature, it will be put to a vote by Arizonans in November. Under the state Constitution, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs doesn’t have veto power over the placement of ballot measures.

Kupper told The Center Square that the resolution comes down to whether a “government in most scenarios” should mandate that people put a medical product in their bodies or allow them to choose.

Kupper said he wants to give Arizonans “the opportunity to decide for themselves.”

“ Do they want the state to have the authority to mandate what they put in their bodies, or do they want to have that decision-making capability themselves?” Kupper asked.

“It’s a basic human right to decide what goes into your own body,” he added.

The resolution doesn’t specify any damages for a violation because a court will need to make those determinations, Kupper said.

The notion the constitutional amendment would undermine the rule of law is “completely wrong,” the legislator noted.

Whatever is in the state Constitution is the law and “overrides” state laws, he noted.

”Some people seem to think a state law can override the [state] Constitution. They clearly can’t. There’s a hierarchy here,” he said.

Furthermore, Kupper said the constitutional amendment proposal does not tell private industry what to do. He added that it also has nothing to do with abortion or the death penalty.

This issue is close to Kupper, as he almost lost his Air Force career for not taking what he called an unapproved version of the COVID-19 vaccine.

While in the Air Force, Kupper said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration issued a lawful mandate requiring military members to take a “fully-approved [COVID-19] vaccine with approved labeling.”

However, the Air Force veteran said the problem in his case was how the mandate was implemented. Kupper explained “the lower level commanders” implemented the mandate “incorrectly” by requiring him to take an “unapproved version of the vaccine.”

Kupper said when he raised this with his commander, the commander told him the fully approved and unapproved vaccines were “the same thing.”

The military’s mandate was legal, whereas the implementation was illegal, Kupper explained.

Kupper joined a federal lawsuit challenging the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. He told The Center Square that the day after he received his discharge papers, a court issued an injunction that prevented him from being removed from the Air Force.

Kupper said he retired from the Air Force after 20 years to avoid retaliation.