Care and Prevention of Eve
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that department of children and families violated the state constitution’s free exercise of religion protection when it vaccinated a child temporarily in its custody over the religious objections of her parents. Parents who have temporarily lost custody of their children retain a residual right to direct their religious upbringing. When parents object to vaccinating a child on religious grounds, the state must demonstrate that allowing the child to remain unvaccinated would substantially hinder the department’s compelling interest in the vaccination. The department failed to show substantial hindrance because state law allows religious exemptions from vaccination for parents who have not lost temporary custody and the agency has not consistently applied the vaccination requirement for children in its custody.
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Vaccines, Religious Freedom, and Parental Rights
Massachusetts’s supreme court ruled last week that the state violated religious freedom guarantees when it vaccinated a child in its custody over parental objections.