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Teachers, police and others who refuse to get the coronavirus shot are trying to use a long-standing Illinois law to circumvent respect for state and city mandates: the Right of Conscience Act from Illinois.
By a state order, teachers and health workers were to receive a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by September 19 or undergo regular testing; similar requirements mid-November kick for civil servants who work in a collective environment.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is meet the October 15 deadline for city employees, including the police. Meanwhile, employers await a push from President Joe Biden to institute a vaccine mandate covering all companies with at least 100 employees.
Illinois Health Care Right to Conscience Act is one of the largest in the country. It is said:
“It is the public policy of the State of Illinois to respect and protect the right of conscience of all persons who refuse to obtain, receive or accept, or who are engaged in providing, l arrangement or payment for health services. and medical care.
The statue’s definition of health care specifically includes “testing,” which those who rely on it say strengthen their legal position.
“What it’s really meant to do is protect healthcare professionals from lawsuits or license revocation or something like that if there’s a healthcare service they don’t want. provide because of a religion or conscience objection, ”said Ameri Klafeta, ACLU director of the Illinois Women’s and Reproductive Rights Project.
She said that usually the law comes into play when doctors or nurses don’t want to perform abortions; there have also been court cases in which pharmacists have fought against filling prescriptions for the morning after pill.
Recently, a dozen teachers and staff from Nauvoo-Colusa Consolidated School District 325 cited the law on the right of conscience as a reason for refusing to be tested or vaccinated. One person wrote that he believed in his own body’s power to fight COVID-19, that a family member’s addiction to prescription drugs made them downpours and was wary of the chemicals used in the COVID-19 test swab.
“I am proud to be a Viking and in no way want to be forced to resign or be fired for not fulfilling these mandates,” the letter said. “For these reasons that I have entered and my personal beliefs, I respectfully decline to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or participate in your weekly COVID-19 tests, as my right is granted to me under the Law Act. of conscience in health care. “
The school board recently confirmed these conscientious objections as a reason staff can refuse to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19.
“The majority of people I have spoken to, the majority of staff, say it is discrimination because if people who have been vaccinated do not have to be tested, they feel like they are shouldn’t get tested because people who are vaccinated – they can spread COVID, and they can have COVID, ”Nauvoo-Colusa Superintendent Kent Young said. “Some of them said if all the staff were tested, they would be too.”
Although it is possible for vaccinated people to get breakthrough cases of COVID-19, the vaccine protects against serious illnesses. The vast majority of people hospitalized and who have died from the coronavirus are not vaccinated.
Nauvoo-Colusa is also on probation with the state for refusing to comply with Pritzker’s mask warrant, against Young’s recommendation.
“It’s difficult in some ways with the staff and especially with community members and parents,” he said. “The kids are always great. They were great last year – we ask them to wear the mask correctly, we had no issues. But as of last spring people got fed up and there is a lot of information on social media and it started to create a problem.
The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police is also looking at conscience law.
“We are not opposed to the vaccine itself. We are opposed to compulsory forced vaccinations. But not at all opposed to the vaccine. We just think it’s a matter of choice, ”said FOP President Chris Southwood. “This law is there, and it seems pretty clear and it seems to be gaining ground that this law actually applies directly to vaccine warrants and we really do think there is some discrimination in this law that will protect our members if they seek a vaccine exemption.
Southwood had COVID-19 last year and said he decided not to get the vaccine after speaking with this doctor about viral antibody addiction.
He said Chicago’s leadership should focus on crime prevention rather than vaccination mandates for officers who have been on the front lines throughout the pandemic.
“At some point we have to set our priorities and violent crime for me, certainly because it affects children – and I’m talking about children here – is far more of a concern to law enforcement than the effect of COVID. -19 on children. “said Southwood.
Chicago is the largest FOP lodge in the state, and that goes against Lightfoot’s mandate.
Klafeta of the ACLU says the workers relying on the HCRCA are exaggerated.
“The way this law was drafted, it was always meant to apply to health professionals, to people who provide health services,” Klafeta said. “What we are seeing now is a truly unprecedented expansion, or attempt to expand, the protections of the law and truly overthrow it.”
She believes that this extension of the law on conscience rights will face legal challenges.
“It seems that the people who are really these warrants that Governor Pritzker has issued rely heavily on this law and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went to court and I think it would be for the courts to determine to what extent to interpret that, “Klafeta said.” There is always a possibility that in the meantime the lawmaker will come back and change the law, potentially to narrow down some of the terms that people rely on to bring the law back within its reach. origin.”
The legislature is expected to be back in Springfield by the end of October, so lawmakers have a chance then.
Southwood says there is a “very good” chance that the Chicago FOP could serve as a test case in court.
The Illinois State Board of Education, meanwhile, is steadfast.
“School personnel who refuse both vaccination and testing should be excluded from school premises,” ISBE said in a statement on Monday, and districts with questions about the right of conscience law in health care matters should consult their legal counsel.
Follow Amanda Vinicky on Twitter: @AmandaVinicky
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