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Judge: Girl Must Take Shots
By John T. Anderson
TIMES RECORD • JANDERSON@SWTIMES.COM
Arkansas law regarding immunization of school children is partly
unconstitutional because it requires families to define their
religion, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
However, the child whose family brought the lawsuit against Ozark
schools and state officials still must take the shots in order to
attend schools, U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson ruled.
Danielle McCarthy, 11, was expelled from Ozark schools last year
after her family refused to allow the girl to be vaccinated for
Hepatitis B because of religious reasons. Officials with the state
Department of Health said the girl did not qualify for a religious
exemption because her family did not provide details of its
religious practices and beliefs.
The girl’s father, Dan McCarthy, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District
Court in Fort Smith, claiming state law that demanded the
vaccinations infringed upon the family’s rights. The state
Department of Health, its director Fay Boozman along with certain
employees of the department and the Ozark School District were named
as defendants.
In his order, Dawson stated the religious exemption section of the
law “clearly runs afoul of the establishment and free exercise
clauses of the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of
the Fourteenth Amendment because the exemption benefits only those
who are members or adherents of a church or religious denomination
recognized by the state. ... The provision fails ... because its
primary effect is to inhibit the earnest beliefs and practices of
those individuals who oppose immunization on religious grounds but
are not members of an officially recognized religious organization.”
The order gives each side something. McCarthy gets the satisfaction
of seeing a portion of state law ruled unconstitutional. The Ozark
school system and the state get confirmation that students must be
immunized before entering school doors.
“It has long been settled that individual rights must be
subordinated to the compelling state interest of protecting society
against the spread of disease,” Dawson wrote.
Last year, Dawson granted a preliminary injunction in the case,
allowing the girl to return to school without the vaccinations until
the lawsuit was resolved. His latest order dissolves that
injunction.
McCarthy, in his original complaint, stated his belief that the body
is “the temple of the Holy Spirit” and that God gave his daughter
“an immune system that will be violated by the induction of
vaccinations.”
McCarthy said he and his wife are not part of an established church
but read the Bible and attended a group that meets weekly called
“Hearts of Hope,” which he described as a “marriage ministry.”
Robert Brech, the attorney who represented the Department of Health
in the lawsuit, did not respond to a telephone message on the issue
late Thursday. Greg Karber, the Fort Smith attorney who filed the
lawsuit on McCarthy’s behalf, also did not respond to a telephone
message left at his office. |
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