By Stephen Smoot
Two years ago, the West Virginia State Legislature passed the Equal Protection for Religious Protection Act of 2023, joining 45 other states that allow various waivers for vaccinations in schools.
Ever since, through the executive orders of Governor Patrick Morrissey, then bureaucratic and legal counterattacks by the West Virginia Department of Education, the right to seek an exemption has remained suspended. A decision last week in Raleigh County Circuit Court resulted in a permanent injunction “in favor of granting religious exemptions from compulsory vaccine requirements.
While those who oppose exemptions tend to categorize opposition as stemming from a lack of education in the science of vaccines, two of the world’s major religions see conflicts between the composition of some vaccines and their faith.
The Roman Catholic Church has expressed concerns about vaccines whose original lines contained stem cells from aborted fetuses. Under the direction of Pope Benedict XVI, the Holy See’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith issued Dignitas Personae, which offers guidelines to the faithful in situations where aborted fetus tissue is used for scientific research or has been used to manufacture lines of vaccines.
It reads “For scientific research and for the production of vaccines or other products, cell lines are at times used which are the result of an illicit intervention against the life or physical integrity of a human being. The connection to the unjust act may be either mediate or immediate, since it is generally a question of cells which reproduce easily and abundantly.
It goes on to state that “all of this gives rise to various ethical problems with regard to cooperation in evil and with regard to scandal. It is fitting therefore to formulate general principles on the basis of which people of good conscience can evaluate and resolve situations in which they may possibly be involved on account of their professional activity.”
In the question of whether a child may use a vaccine from those lines, the Congregation explains that the question of sanctity of life must be balanced between the illicit origins of a vaccine and a present danger to the life of the child.
“Thus, for example, danger to the health of children could permit parents to use a vaccine which was developed using cell lines of illicit origin, while keeping in mind that everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available,” reads the document. Each Roman Catholic parent has the responsibility to make that choice based on their best assessment of the potential for danger for the living child versus the violation of the rights of the aborted child.
Furthermore, the statement gives the Catholic faithful the moral obligation to express their moral concerns over such vaccinations.
Jewish and Muslim groups have expressed concern over porcine products used to manufacture a number of common vaccines. The Book of Leviticus in the Jewish Bible states of pork, “you shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.” In the Muslim Holy Book, the Koran, it says in 16:115 “He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah.”
The Raleigh County case was brought by Miranda Guzman, mother of a child who, at the time of the filing, was four years old. In the filing, it read “Plaintiff maintains profound religious objections to injecting her four-year old child . . . with the vaccinations required . . . Defendants prohibit (the minor child) from attending any Raleigh County Schools unless she received all CVL-mandated vaccines.”
The filing went on to cite how states bordering West Virginia deal with unvaccinated children during an outbreak of illness. It added that “the overwhelming majority of states have for decades recognized the compelling interest in respecting their citizens’ religious freedoms and have allowed for a religious exemption.”
Governor Morrisey noted that “As a Christian, Miranda is raising an number of objections to state-mandated vaccines that run counter to her deeply held religious beliefs.” He added that “As Governor, I fully support Miranda’s ability to seek a religious exemption.”
He has also urged the State Legislature to act in the upcoming session to secure protections for those seeking exemptions for their children.