Judge upholds law banning religious exemptions to vaccine mandates

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, September 21, 2026

A lawsuit filed by parents challenging a Connecticut law that eliminated religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates has been dismissed because a law states that such exemptions are not protected under a longstanding religious freedom law.

In a decision last Monday, Judge Edward Krumeich of the Connecticut Superior Court granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by parents Keira Spillane and Anna Kehle against Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Connecticut Department of Education Director Charlene Russell-Tucker, Connecticut Department of Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, the Orange Board of Education, and Whitby School.

The plaintiffs allege that vaccinating their children would force them to compromise “their closely held religious beliefs” about the sanctity of human life, since aborted fetuses were used in the development of some of the immunizations. The lawsuit also states that vaccines made from animal parts will “defile their children’s blood,” which it says likewise violates their religious beliefs.

The lawsuit claims the state law violates the Connecticut Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), along with multiple provisions of the Connecticut Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. It cites Article I, Section III of the Connecticut Constitution, which states “the Free Exercise of Religion shall forever be allowed in Connecticut.” The complaint cites the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The state urged the court to dismiss the case, citing a 2021 law and another law passed this year that clarified such exemptions are not protected under RFRA.

Monday’s decision brings to an end four years of litigation over the elimination of the religious exemption for school vaccine mandates. The Connecticut Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiffs’ state and federal constitutional claims in a 2024 ruling but remanded the RFRA claim to the Superior Court. Monday’s ruling found that eliminating the religious exemption did not violate RFRA.

In a statement, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, praised the court’s decision.

“Vaccines save lives. Today’s decision affirms what we have said since day one — Connecticut’s commonsense school vaccine requirements are lifesaving and lawful,” he said.

Lindy Urso, counsel for the plaintiffs, called Lamont, Tong and Connecticut House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Conn., “gutless cowards” in a Facebook post.

“When they repealed CT’s longstanding Religious exemption to the school vaccine requirements, they assured everyone that the repeal would withstand a challenge under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” he wrote.

“But on the eve of trial, when they knew they were going to lose, they literally changed the Act and carved out a ‘vaccine’ exception to Religious Freedom solely to defeat our lawsuit."

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Connecticut is one of five states that do not allow a religious exemption to school vaccine mandates. The others are California, Maine, Minnesota and New York.