Moms fight for health autonomy

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, February 12th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: MAHA Moms.

EICHER: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has sparked fierce debate—especially over his views on vaccines, Big Pharma, and industrialized agriculture. But among his loudest supporters? Mothers who’ve rallied behind the slogan, Make America Healthy Again.

MAST: I spoke with some of these MAHA moms about why they see this moment as a turning point for the country’s health.

BELLA YON: He lost all eye contact. He lost all language that he had at 18 months, you know, just the few words that he had that he lost it all, really just a very sick child, major gastrointestinal issues.

Bella Yon says her family’s life changed forever the day her 18-month-old brother had a seizure in the pediatrician's office. Her parents had taken him in for a routine vaccination in her home country of England.

YON: That was enough for my parents to say, no more. We know what happened to our son, and we're going to look into this and make sure that it doesn't happen to anyone again.

The family has documented Bella’s brother’s struggles on YouTube and in documentaries:

AUDIO: [Video of brother and mom]

She says he never recovered and he’ll never live on his own. Her family became distrustful of doctors, embraced natural wellness, and passed those interests on to her. Yon lives in Florida now, where she’s a military wife, mother, and nutritionist with a well-curated Instagram page.

AUDIO: We’ve got two cups of organic strawberries, and I’ve just chopped mine up…

She and her family have worked for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s non-profit organization Children’s Health Defense. It has mounted numerous legal challenges to vaccine mandates and other public health campaigns. Yon says Kennedy has the support of women like her because he listened to their concerns about their childrens’ health.

YON: I think we've never seen someone boldly and openly represent the mothers, and that's such a powerful thing. He has taken the time over his years of activism to truly sit and listen to what people are saying about their kids.

The ideas behind the MAHA movement have been growing for years. If Kennedy takes the helm of HHS, supporters hope their concerns will have a powerful champion.

KENNEDY: There's no issue that should unite us more than this chronic health epidemic. There's no such thing as Republican children or Democratic children. These are our kids.

Lots of people do agree on that point: many Americans, both children and adults, are sick. Data from a 2018 study found that more than half of all Americans have at least one chronic disease: conditions like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and asthma. More than a quarter have two or more.

But how to fix the problem? That’s harder to find agreement on. Many in the MAHA movement say it will take dismantling existing food and healthcare systems.

AUDIO: Protein, fiber, and healthy fats…

If you search “MAHA Moms” on social media, you’ll see women touting the benefits of home-grown and home-cooked foods… getting outside more… Many avoid everything from antibiotics to flouride to food dyes.

AUDIO: Here's my hydroponically grown butter lettuce…

But it’s vaccine skepticism that has served as a particularly unifying force. Vaccine skeptics voice concern over both the number of recommended childhood vaccines and the ingredients in them. In a child’s first six years, a typical vaccine schedule includes 30 doses—not counting the recommended annual flu or COVID shots.

Kennedy has expressed his own doubts about the safety of vaccines. That doesn’t sit well with many medical professionals and politicians who have opposed his nomination.

Critics fear his influence will mean lower vaccination rates and an increase in diseases. Immunization campaigns are widely credited with allowing more people to survive deadly diseases like rubella and polio. This one in Florida in the 1960s was covered by the British press.

CAMPAIGN: The new vaccine is one of three types. All claim to be an improvement on the famous Salk vaccine. Between them they may make polio as rare as smallpox.

Some sources estimate that in the last 50 years, vaccines have averted 154 million deaths globally.

But MAHA moms like Bella Yon think that has come at a cost. Her objections to vaccines go beyond her personal experience with her brother. She ties them to her faith, too.

YON: There are very questionable ingredients in the vaccines, including those that have been cultured on aborted fetal tissue, which for me, as a Bible believing Christian is an absolute no, no. I also believe that God made us the way he made us, and we don't need things injected into our body to survive and thrive.”

A different aspect of faith drives Toni Krehel, a Florida acupuncturist and medical freedom advocate.

KREHEL: The Make America Healthy Again movement isn't, you know, it's, it's not just about eating right and having good food and that kind of thing. One of the things that this movement is about is exposing the corruption between government and the various industries that are making us so unhealthy.”

She objects to mandatory vaccine requirements like the ones found in public schools based on three main ideas:

KREHEL: The medical freedom, the informed consent, the religious freedom, those are basic human rights.

Krehel believes injecting vaccines into the body is a form of defilement. And says a person who believes the same should always have the right to decline a vaccine.

KREHEL: I mean, you don't have to know anything else. You don't have to be a rocket scientist. You don't have to look at all the studies, anything, all you have to realize that this is a basic human right, and why? Why wouldn't? Why wouldn't we want that?

Exemptions for personal and religious reasons have been the subject of multiple court cases over the years.

And not every mom of children with a chronic illness thinks Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s appointment is the answer to the problem. I talked to several and while they declined to be interviewed on tape, one expressed her belief that genetics, not vaccines, may have played a role in her son's autism. Another said her trust in God's sovereignty compels her not to question her son's diagnosis.

Kennedy said last week that he is not anti-vaccine.

KENNEDY: The President's pledge is not to make some Americans healthy again, but to make all of our people healthy again. There is no single culprit in chronic disease.

He said he supports the measles and polio vaccine. He’s also said he wants to look at vaccine safety data and share his findings.

Regardless of the outcome of the Senate vote on Kennedy, the moms I spoke with expressed hopefulness for an America that is healthier in ways beyond just the vaccine question.

YON: I know these mothers and we will never stop fighting for our children.

Moms like Bella Yon see momentum behind their movement.

YON: …And kind of introduced this conversation that was very much shunned and wasn't being discussed. And I think with all of us together, we will continue to fight for this..

They say they’re not stopping, even if RFK, Jr.'s cabinet opportunity does.

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