Religious and Medical Freedom Are Under Attack in Massachusetts!

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The Massachusetts legislature is considering three dangerous vaccine bills—H.2554/S.1557, and S.1618—that threaten religious freedom, parental rights, medical privacy, and introduce new risks for minor consent.

If passed, these bills would:

• Eliminate religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates (H.2554 & S.1557), barring unvaccinated children from public, private, or charter K‑12 schools.

• Expand intrusive government surveillance by requiring schools to report vaccination and exemption data, with the Department of Public Health publicly publishing school-level figures, risking community targeting and discrimination.

• Allow minors to self-consent to vaccination without parental knowledge or even mental capacity limits (S.1618), a profound intrusion into family authority and informed consent.

• Establish arbitrary “community immunity” thresholds tied to school access, with no standardized oversight, posing a slippery slope toward ever-expanding mandates controlled by the public health bureaucracy.

These bills also delete a vital line in current law (Section 15, Chapter 76, paragraph three) that protects the right to religious exemptions based on sincere belief.

Read the current law here:
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter76/Section15

COMMITTEE UPDATE:
On June 6, 2025, the Joint Committee on Public Health held a public hearing on these three bills. The hearing is now completed, and the committee is currently considering whether to advance these bills further in the legislative process. It is CRITICAL that lawmakers hear from constituents NOW—before any committee votes take place!

Please help us protect the right to choose by contacting your Massachusetts state legislators today!

TAKE ACTION

Contact your Massachusetts state House and Senate members and ask them to OPPOSE H.2554, S.1557, and S.1618.

You can look up who represents you at:
https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

Calls are more effective than emails, and only take a few minutes.

Sample script:

“Hi, my name is ____ and I am a constituent. I am calling to ask Representative/Senator ____ to OPPOSE H.2554, S.1557, and S.1618, which would eliminate religious belief exemptions to vaccination and allow minors to consent to vaccination without parental knowledge.

These bills would strip families of their constitutional right to make faith-based health decisions for their children and would bar unvaccinated children from attending public, private, or charter schools.

This is a clear violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 2 of the Massachusetts Constitution, which protects every individual’s right to worship and live according to their conscience.

Religious discrimination and medical coercion have no place in health policy. Families should never be forced to choose between their faith and their child’s education or be subjected to government surveillance and data collection simply for exercising their rights.

Please vote NO on H.2554, S.1557, and S.1618 to protect parental rights, religious freedom, medical privacy, and the dignity of every family in Massachusetts.”

Talking Points:

1. You oppose any legislation that would eliminate religious belief exemptions to vaccination in Massachusetts.

• The Massachusetts vaccination rate is currently at 96.1% for the 7 vaccines surveyed by the CDC. The existing religious exemption has not decreased rates and must be left intact. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7341a3.htm

• Religious freedom is a cornerstone of American democracy, protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and mirrored in state constitutions, including Massachusetts’s.

• The right to follow one’s conscience in matters of faith and bodily autonomy is sacred. For many, vaccination is not just a medical decision—it’s a profoundly personal and spiritual one.

• The government should never force individuals to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs to access public goods like education or employment.

• Religious liberty doesn’t end where public health policy begins. True freedom means respecting diverse beliefs, especially in personal medical decisions.

• Coercing medical compliance by threatening education, work, or participation in society is a violation of religious conscience and sets a dangerous precedent.

• Faith-based objections are valid and protected, whether held by a small minority or a large community—freedom of religion is not up for a vote.

• Many vaccines are made using aborted fetal tissue. Read this article to learn more:
  https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/use-of-aborted-fetal-tissue-in-vaccines/#gsc.tab=0

1. S.1618 goes beyond H.2554 and S.1557 by introducing a dangerous new “community immunity” standard that could force compliance with new vaccine mandates in the future without legislative oversight.

MORE INFORMATION
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/H2554/Cosponsor – text, status, and history of H.2554
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/S1557 – text, status, and history of S.1557
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/S1618 – text, status, and history of S.1618

Read this article: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/massachusetts-lawmakers-earful-vaccine-mandates-religious-exemptions/?utm_source=luminate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=defender&utm_id=20250609

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