Vienna, Virginia http://www.909shot.com
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#9119
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“Protecting the health and
informed consent rights of children since 1982.”
November 27, 2001
SCHOOL BOARD SUED AFTER EXPELLING STUDENT WHO REFUSED
INOCULATIONS BECAUSE OF RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS
New York, New York - Today in federal court Lynn Friedman,
D.C., on behalf of her son Luke Friedman, filed suit against the Clarkstown
Central School District and the New York State Department of Health claiming
the District and the Department of Health violated state and federal law by
refusing to grant religious exemptions to forced inoculations. The parents and students are represented by
Attorneys Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel, of Liberty Counsel
and Joel Oster, Litigation Counsel for Liberty Counsel.
New York state law requires school-aged children to be
subjected to a laundry list of various vaccinations. State law provides exemptions to the vaccinations for medical
reasons and to those who object based on religious grounds. Luke Friedman is a Kindergarten student at
Lakewood Elementary School. Luke’s
parents are opposed to immunizations for religious reasons. They believe that their body is the temple
of God and that they should not defile their body by injecting it with
artificial toxins. Lynn Friedman,
Luke’s mother, filed a request with the school district to be exempted from
immunizations for religious reasons. The Department of Health regulations state
that a school district can require “supporting documentation” of a religious
belief to determine whether an individual is entitled to an exemption from
vaccinations. Relying on this regulation,
the School District required Mrs. Friedman to respond to a lengthy
questionnaire concerning her religious beliefs and then required her to submit
to a deposition under oath regarding her religious beliefs. During the deposition she was asked very
detailed and intrusive questions about her religious beliefs. The School District then denied her religious
exemption and Luke was expelled from school on November 21, 2001.
The lawsuit claims that the School Board is violating
state law which requires the Board to grant exemptions based upon religious
objections to inoculations. The lawsuit
also claims that the Department of Health Regulations are unconstitutional
because they allow school districts to subject parents to inquisitions
regarding their religious beliefs and give the school district the opportunity
to determine whether an individual’s religious belief are orthodox or are
entitled to protection.
Staver said, “The Clarkstown Central School District, with
the support and authority of the State Department of Health, is requiring Mrs. Friedman to abandon her religious beliefs in
exchange for receiving a public education.
This the Board cannot do.”
Staver also stated, “Subjecting parents to detailed and intrusive
investigations, such as what Mrs. Freidman encountered, not only violates the
United States Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom, but also hearkens
back to the Inquisition. The Supreme
Court stated long ago that no government official may determine what is
orthodox in religion.” Staver
concluded, “The School District and the State Department of Health are
obligated by the Constitution to protect and defend the religious beliefs of
parents. The Defendants in this case
instead steamrolled those constitutional rights.”
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