We recently reported on all the colleges and universities that are requiring mandatory vaccines.
Now, a slew of lawsuits maybe next after Indiana University parents are suing over the mandate. A group of parents founded the IU Family for Choice not Mandates and filed the lawsuit Monday against the university.
The University, which is publicly funded, sent out an email to all faculty, staff and students announcing everyone is “required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.” Not only were vaccines mandated, “the university threatened employees who do not want to take the vaccine, noting that if they refuse it, their employment will be terminated” reports the Federalist.
As for students, if they refuse the vaccine, they will “lose access to all IU systems and have their class registration revoked.” The lawyer representing the parents, James Bopp Jr., has filed a public record request asking for “all public records regarding the making of this decision and for all public records related to the implementation of this policy to determine whether or not this mandate is justified.”
Bopp Jr. also warned that the Indiana University policy “opens the door to intentional religious discrimination” and that they “could be in violation of federal law.” The Federalist reports:
Several students are moving ahead with a lawsuit that was filed Monday, alleging that IU’s mandate “violates the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which includes rights of personal autonomy and bodily integrity, and the right to reject medical treatment” and that it is a violation of “Indiana’s new Vaccine Passport Law which prohibits state and local units (including Indiana University (“IU”)) from requiring or issuing vaccine ‘passports’ that indicate an individual’s COVID immunization status.”
The mandate has already received backlash from Indiana’s Attorney General Todd Rokita, who said the mandate “unquestionably violates the new law” in an official opinion issued on May 26th.
While IU will provide exemptions for those with documented medical exemptions and legally protected religious grounds, which the Bopp Law Firm calls them “extremely limited,” as no exemption is provided for those who have natural immunity as a result of having already contracted the COVID-19 virus. Furthermore, those who are able to receive an exemption are subject to additional restrictions such as bi-weekly testing.
The lawsuit has the potential to set a precedent that could prevent other universities and government-funded institutions from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine.
