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Today, the Honorable Michael E. Froble of West Virginia’s Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Court, has issued an order enjoining the state board of education and others from preventing children with a religious exemption to vaccination from attending school! Now, West Virginia schools must honor religious exemptions to mandated school vaccines.
ICAN’s legal team secured a critical win back in July against West Virginia’s Board of Education when the court granted a preliminary injunction ensuring the children involved in the lawsuit could attend school without interruption while the case proceeded on the merits.
Now that win is permanent and much more broad: it applies to “All individuals and families in [West Virginia] who have sought, obtained, or will in the future seek an exemption under [West Virginia’s] Equal Protection of Religion Act for vaccination requirements, and whose children have been, are being, or will be denied access to public schools due to the enforcement of the Compulsory Vaccination Law (“CVL”), or who are otherwise subject to Defendants’ policy refusing to recognize exemptions to the CVL.”
Following briefing, argument, multiple days of hearings and Judge Froble’s careful consideration of the substantial evidence presented by ICAN’s attorneys, the court ruled that West Virginia’s Board of Education must honor religious exemptions.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey called ICAN’s victory a “Huge win for religious liberty in West Virginia” in a post on X, stating that “Today’s ruling is a win for every family forced from school over their faith.”
Congratulations West Virginia! And a huge thank you to all our supporters who make this work and wins like this possible. Only four more states to go!
