Religious Exemptions Are Under Attack in Massachusetts!

The Massachusetts legislature is considering two identical bills— H.2554 and S.1557—that would eliminate the religious exemption to vaccination for schoolchildren.

If passed, these bills would strip families of their right to decline vaccination for sincere religious reasons and would bar unvaccinated children from attending public, private, or charter K-12 schools across the state.

In addition to removing religious exemptions, these bills would expand data reporting requirements by mandating every school to report the total number of vaccinated students and those with medical exemptions. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would then publish this data publicly, school by school, district by district—or in any way it sees fit—potentially leading to community-level targeting and discrimination.

While H.2554 and S.1557 technically leave medical exemptions intact, those are extremely difficult to obtain. Across the country, we’ve seen doctors who provide legitimate medical exemptions face professional persecution, leaving families with no practical way to opt out.

These deceptively short bills delete a critical line from the current law: the third paragraph of Section 15, Chapter 76, which currently protects the right to object to vaccines based on sincerely held religious beliefs.

Read the current law here:

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter76/Section15

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 and S.1557.

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 or (S.1557), which would eliminate religious belief exemptions to vaccination.

These bills seek to eliminate the religious exemption to vaccination, stripping families of their constitutional right to make faith-based health decisions for their children.

If passed, children will be denied access to public, private, and charter schools simply because their families hold sincere religious beliefs that conflict with vaccination.

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 has no place in health policy. Families should never be forced to choose between their faith and their child’s education.

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

Talking Points:

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.