Yep. As I said, she’s scaring off parents from a legitimate medical procedure just so she can score political points. It’s atrocious.

“Congresswoman Bachmann’s decision to spread fear of vaccines is dangerous and irresponsible,” said Evan Siegfried, a spokesman for the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership. “There is zero credible scientific evidence that vaccines cause mental retardation or autism. She should cease trying to foment fear in order to advance her political agenda.”

The vaccine-mental retardation myth was busted years ago, with the British publication that originated the myth withdrawing the story. The myth continues to be repeated by anti-vaccine groups, but researchers and doctors deny any credible scientific link between the FDA-approved vaccines and mental retardation.

Look, mandated vaccination is wrong. I believe in parental choice as much as the next conservative. And that’s a fine line to push. But when you start scaring parents away from legitimate medical procedures they want to pursue, just so you can push a political agenda — that’s just as wrong.