By Barbara Loe Fisher
All 50 states have exemptions to vaccination written into state law but, with
the exception of the medical exemption, the right to a religious, personal,
philosophical or conscientious belief exemption varies from state to state.
Those who wish to take a religious exemption to vaccination should be aware
of the need to exercise this exemption only if there is the existence of a sincere
and deeply held religious belief that conflicts with the secular state law requiring
vaccination.
The religious exemption to vaccination exists in all but two states, Mississippi
and West Virginia, where its absence has never been challenged at the state
Supreme Court level. In states where the religious exemption has been worded
restrictively, in that it requires a person to belong to a church with a written
tenet opposing vaccination, legal challenges at the state high court level have
struck down the state’s attempt to force a citizen to belong to a certain
religion or church in order to take the religious exemption to vaccination.
In other words, a person may hold a sincere personal religious belief opposing
vaccination without being required to belong to an organized religion or specific
church that officially opposes vaccination.
However, most states can and do require some demonstration that the person claiming
the religious exemption to vaccination holds sincere and deeply held religious
beliefs opposing vaccination. This means the person asking for the right to
take a religious exemption should be prepared to defend it on spiritual or religious,
not secular (i.e., scientific or medical) grounds.
The Supreme Court of Wyoming and recently a federal court in New York have both
set limitations on the lengths to which public health or school officials may
go to require a person to prove their sincerely held religious beliefs regarding
vaccination. However, these boundaries do not eliminate the requirement to give
some demonstration of sincerity.
To protect the integrity and legal viability of the religious exemption to vaccination,
it is extremely important that those who belong to and practice a particular
faith—whether it be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any other organized religion—do
not change their faith or join another church with the idea that it will be
easier to take a religious exemption.
The religious exemption to vaccination is protected and can be defended under
the law, no matter what faith is embraced. And it is very important for more
individuals who belong to mainstream churches to defend their religious beliefs
about vaccination within their own faith.
On Jan. 31 this year, New York federal Judge Michael Telesca ruled in favor
of a mother, who is Roman Catholic and opposed to vaccination of her daughter
based on her religious beliefs within her faith. Judge Telesca said that the
mother had “demonstrated her religious beliefs were genuine. … This
Court may not pass on the wisdom of [her] belief, nor on the manner upon which
she came to hold that belief, provided that she maintains a sincere and genuine
religious objection to immunization.”
Religious beliefs are personal and sacred. In order to defend them against all
who would challenge their sincerity, the individual must hold them sincerely.
Those who choose to take the religious exemption to vaccination need to remember
that.
About the author: Barbara Loe Fisher is co-founder and president of the National
Vaccine Information Center, a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to
preventing vaccine injuries and deaths and defending informed consent rights
through public education. For more information and to sign up for NVIC’s
e-mail vaccine news service, visit their web site at www.909shot.com.
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