WHEELING – A group of parents have filed a lawsuit seeking to make West Virginia permit religious exemptions for vaccines to attend school.
The complaint was filed April 26 in federal court by West Virginia Parents For Religious Freedom as well as parents Andrew Waldron, Pastor Chris Figaretti and Judd Uhl on behalf of their minor children against Dr. Matthew Christiansen as the West Virginia State Health Officer and Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health.
In an April 28 memorandum in support of their motion for preliminary injunction, the plaintiffs claim West Virginia’s statute in its Compulsory Vaccination Law allowing medical exemptions for vaccines while prohibiting religious exemptions is unconstitutional under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
According to the memorandum, the plaintiffs possess deeply held religious beliefs that prohibit them from vaccinating their children. They say the Compulsory Vaccination Law has burdened them. They also say their religious convictions have entailed significant sacrifices and caused irreparable harm.
Each of the individual plaintiffs, who are members of PRF, have tried to enroll their children in West Virginia schools with a religious exemption to vaccines but were rejected. They all say their children have been barred from the state’s educational system because of their religious beliefs.
Figaretti says his children cross the state line from Wheeling into Ohio because it is one of 44 states that permit religious exemptions to childhood vaccination requirements.
Uhl’s wife, who has a master’s in business administration from West Virginia University, has had to reject professional opportunities because she homeschools their children.
“West Virginia simply cannot demonstrate that the public interest requires its citizens to discard their religious convictions, and their constitutional rights, so their children can benefit from a formal education,” the memorandum states. “The state also cannot credibly argue the public interest and balancing of harms requires that the government to compound constitutional and dignitary harms by causing plaintiffs to continue suffering signification personal and professional sacrifices should they maintain their religious beliefs.”
In their verified brief, the plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.
“It (the state’s Compulsory Vaccination Law) allows individuals to apply for secular, medical exemptions to the mandatory immunization policy, and those applications are determined on a discretionary basis by health commissioner,” the brief, filed May 9 by Deputy AG Chanin Wolfingbarger Krivonyak, states. “Because (the law) offers no similar mechanism for individuals to apply for a religious exemption from the mandatory vaccination requirement, it prevents individuals from enjoying the free exercise of a deeply held religious belief or conviction. …
“West Virginia is in the extremely small minority of states that do not have a mechanism to allow families with sincerely held religious beliefs to apply for a religious exemption to mandatory immunizations.”
The AG’s brief also notes the Equal Protection for Religion Act that was passed in March by the state Legislature and will go into effect May 29.
“It is directly relevant to the issues raised in the plaintiff’s complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief as it states that ‘no state action may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion’ unless doing so is essential to a compelling governmental interest and is ‘the least restrictive means’ of furthering that compelling governmental interest,” the brief states.
A hearing took place May 10. U.S. District Judge John P. Bailey didn’t issue a ruling as he wanted additional briefing on a technical issue in the case, so the matter will be decided on summary judgment soon.
The plaintiffs are being represented by John H. Bryan of Union, by Christopher Wiest of Crestview, Ky., and by Aaron Siri, Elizabeth Brehm, Walker Moller and Suzanne Heywood of Siri & Glimstad in New York. Christiansen is being represented by Andrew Robey, Zak Ritchie and Michael Hissam of Hissam Forman Donovan Ritchie in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 5:23-cv-00158
