A judge has ruled that West Virginia must allow religious exemptions to the state’s mandatory vaccination law in what the state’s governor is touting as a “win for every family forced from school over their faith.”
In a ruling last Wednesday, Judge Michael Froble of the West Virginia Circuit Court of Raleigh County determined that the West Virginia Board of Education’s policy offering no religious exemptions to the state’s Compulsory Vaccination Law violates the state’s Equal Protection for Religion Act.
Under West Virginia’s vaccination law, a child cannot attend “any of the schools of the state or a state-regulated childcare center until he or she has been immunized against chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough” and “[n]o person shall be allowed to enter school without at least one dose of each required vaccine.”
The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by Miranda Guzman, a parent residing in Raleigh County, West Virginia, who wanted to enroll her 4-year-old child in school.
Guzman, who has religious objections to the state’s Compulsory Vaccination Law, has been unable to send her child to school because of her inability to obtain a religious exemption. Wednesday’s decision orders the West Virginia Board of Education not to prevent Guzman and other parents or guardians from enrolling their children in school or attending school.
Enacted in 2023, the Equal Protection for Religion Act forbids the state government from taking action that imposes one’s religious beliefs, unless it is necessary in the interest of the state government.
In addition to the Equal Protection for Religion Act, West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed an executive order earlier this year authorizing the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources to implement a religious exemption process for parents with religious exemptions to the vaccination requirements. While the Health Department granted the plaintiffs religious exemption certificates, the state’s Board of Education refused to honor them.
“Today’s ruling is a win for every family forced from school over their faith,” Morrisey said in a statement reacting to last week’s decision. “I will always take a stand for religious liberty and for the children of this state. I applaud the court for upholding West Virginia’s Equal Protection for Religion Act.”
As he celebrated the ruling, Morrisey called on West Virginia’s Republican-controlled Legislature to take additional action: “Now is the time for the legislature to act. I am calling on every lawmaker to step forward and solidify this freedom for every West Virginian.”
The West Virginia Board of Education also issued a statement announcing that it “hereby suspends the policy on compulsory vaccination requirements.” However, the body indicated that it might reinstate the requirements pending the outcome of “further proceedings on the issue before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.”
As documented by the “Religious Liberty in the States” report, compiled earlier this year by the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy at the First Liberty Institute, West Virginia is among a minority of states that do not have a religious exemption to childhood vaccination requirements on the books. The other states that lack this exemption are California, Connecticut, Maine, Mississippi and New York.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
