New York
New York
New York took away religious exemptions. Now Amish schools are being fined.
In 2019 New York repealed the religious exemption from school vaccine requirements. Families of faith lost the right to decide, and the state has since fined three Amish schools roughly $118,000 for enrolling unvaccinated children.
The Amish families sued in Miller v. McDonald. On June 30, 2026 the Second Circuit ruled against them for a second time, and they are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. Some families have said they may have to leave New York.
The courts are one path. The legislature is the other: bills to restore the religious exemption and to exempt private and parochial schools are sitting in committee in Albany. Tell your legislators to move them.
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Restore the religious exemption
These companion bills would restore the religious exemption from school vaccination requirements that New York repealed in 2019. That repeal is why Amish schools are being fined today.
Stop vaccine mandates for summer camp
Requires children enrolled in overnight camps, summer day camps, or traveling summer day camps to be vaccinated against a specified list of diseases. The Senate version was substituted by the Assembly bill, which was returned to the Assembly in May 2026.
Children should not be shut out of summer camp over their families' medical decisions.
Ban geoengineering and weather modification
Prohibits releasing chemicals or other substances into the atmosphere to affect temperature, weather, or sunlight intensity, creates a reporting process for violations, and sets penalties.
People should not be exposed to atmospheric experiments without their consent.
Exempt private and parochial schools
These bills would exempt private and parochial schools and day care centers from the state's immunization requirements, which would protect Amish and other faith-based schools from the fines they face now.
Stop the medical-exemption-only bill
These bills would limit exemptions from vaccine requirements set by local governments and private entities to medical exemptions only, and repeal religious exemptions for certain college students. They would push the 2019 repeal even further.
Vaccine bill of rights
A3807 would prohibit mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for education, employment, travel and other activities, and enact a vaccine bill of rights.
Pass the New York Anti-Mandate Act
Bars businesses and ticket issuers from denying service, products, admission, or transportation based on whether a person has received a medical intervention, and bars schools from mandating medical interventions.
No one should lose access to work, school, or public life over a personal medical decision.
Reinstate workers fired over COVID vaccine
Requires reinstatement of New York City officers and employees dismissed due to a COVID-19 vaccine requirement, including retirees and vested members, without a one-year limit on return.
Workers who lost their jobs over a medical choice deserve to be made whole.
License community midwives for home birth
Establishes the professional practice of community midwifery, covering care for normal pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum in the home, birth center, or community, and sets license and practice requirements.
Families should have access to qualified midwives and the freedom to give birth at home.