Bellevue - A rally to defend parental rights and to publicly reject efforts by radical Democrat legislators (HB 1296 and SB 5181) to further limit parental rights will take place this Saturday, February 15^th on the North Steps of the Capitol in Olympia, at noon.

The rally, which is jointly sponsored by the Washington State Republican Party (WAGOP), Let’s Go Washington, and Family Policy Institute of Washington, occurs in the wake of outrageous remarks made by WA State Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, a Democrat, during a recent FOX News interview that has since gone viral.

“Kids over 13 have the complete right to make their own decisions about their mental health care. Parents don’t have a right to have notice. They don’t have a right to have consent about that,” said Pedersen.

Sen. Pedersen’s grossly offensive comments are in step with radical Democrat efforts, led by Sen. Pedersen himself, to undo most of Washington’s parental bill of rights, which was passed into law last June after a successful voter initiative.

“This left-wing ideology that the state raises children and that families DON’T is just wrong,” says WAGOP Chairman and State Representative Jim Walsh in an interview with FOX News.

“It’s wrong on the policy and wrong on the law,” adds Chairman Walsh. The WA Parents’ Bill of Rights DOES give parents and guardians the right to be notified about school and health information involving their minor children. Left-wing special interest groups challenged that law in Washington court—and lost. It is good law.”

“Democrats are gaslighting parents who have had their rights systematically stripped away,” writes Republican State Representative Travis Couture, in a recent opinion piece. “Parents were once simply excluded from routine therapy sessions; now they are locked out of decisions that can permanently alter their child’s body and mind. A 13-year-old in Washington cannot get a tattoo, smoke a cigarette, or take an aspirin at school without parental consent – but that same child can begin a regimen of puberty blockers or hormones without their parents ever knowing.”

Chairman Walsh sums up WAGOP’s strong position on parents’ rights in Washington in this way: “We will never give up this fight. Informed parents make strong families, and strong families raise healthy kids. Left-wing ideologues have peddled their bad policy ideas long enough. Those bad ideas have resulted in failing schools, depressed kids, suicidal teenagers and bankrupt bureaucratic agencies. Enough! Washington Republicans will fix what’s broken in our state. And that starts with defending parents’ rights.”