Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall supports Amish rights after New York vaccine requirements
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MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined 19 states in supporting the religious freedoms of the Amish community in rural New York.
This comes after the state decided to no longer allow exemptions from vaccinations for religious beliefs in 2019 following a reported measles outbreak.
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Marshall argued in support of the Amish and Amish schools along with Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia in an amicus brief.
The brief argues that the refusal to allow religious exemptions for vaccine requirements imposes “massive penalties” for Amish schools and violates the First Amendment rights of parents to exercise their religion and raise their children in accordance with their religious beliefs.
“New York has so little regard for religion that it will seek out, harass, and threaten Amish communities that want only to live out their faith amongst themselves,” Marshall said. “Parents should not be forced to choose between their children’s schooling and their fundamental rights.”
It further notes that the First Amendment was designed to protect religious minorities like the Amish and that “the law discriminates against religion because it permits students to be unvaccinated, so long as they give “health” reasons, not religious ones.”
The states expressed concern in the brief that eliminating religious exemptions for vaccine requirements is a “growing trend to curtail longstanding liberties protected by the First Amendment” after California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York all stopped accepting the exemptions.
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The full brief is included below.
05.20.24-NY-Amish-1A-Amicus-Br-FILEDDownload
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