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May 22, 2024

Attorney General Bird Fights to Protect Religious Freedom Against Illegal Vaccine Mandates

DES MOINES—Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird today took action to stop vaccine mandates and protect religious freedoms.

New York has eliminated religious exemptions for school vaccination requirements and has imposed massive penalties on religious schools that refuse the vaccine. Vaccine mandates infringe upon parents’ First Amendment right to raise their kids according to their faith. Nearly every other state recognizes and accommodates religious objections to school vaccine mandates.

“I am fighting to stop New York’s new vaccine mandate that forces parents to choose between their Constitutional rights and if their kids can go to school,” said Attorney General Bird. “American parents have a fundamental right to raise their kids according to their faith.”

The brief makes the case that the First Amendment was designed to protect religious minorities. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly defended parental rights in regard to religious education and the religious upbringing of one’s children. The New York mandate is also discriminatory because it gives exemptions for “health,” but not for religion.

Iowa joined the Alabama-led amicus brief. They were joined by Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Read the full amicus brief here.

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For More Information:

Alyssa Brouillet | Communications Director

(515) 823-9112

alyssa.brouillet@ag.iowa.gov

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