Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, speaks with Senate Education Policy Chair Donnie Chesteen, R-Ozark, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 5, 2025. The pair debated a bill from Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur (right) that would allow religious exemption for vaccines without reason. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that allows parents to claim a religious exemption from vaccination without providing an explanation or allowing a public body to evaluate the claim.
SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, also explicitly allows students at colleges and universities to declare themselves religiously exempt from vaccinations.
“The experience has been many times in these offices, the mom or dad or whoever has taken the child, gets asked about their religious beliefs,” Orr said.
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The legislation also removes language that suspended religious exemptions in the presence of an epidemic “or immediate threat thereof.” Apriell Hartsfield, a policy analyst with Voices for Alabama Children, the lone speaker at the public hearing, opposed the legislation.
“We fear that this bill will needlessly impact many vulnerable children whose health is already at risk and they are not able to get vaccinations,” she said.
In Texas, one child died from measles on Feb. 25, a previously dormant disease, due to an outbreak that infected mostly unvaccinated children. According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, there have been 159 measles cases so far with five of the infected being vaccinated with at least one dose.
Alabama public health officials have voiced fears about dropping vaccination rates in the state. The state’s measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rate fell below 94% in 2022-23. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 95% of the population needs to be immunized to achieve herd immunity.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said unvaccinated children should be kept at home.
“If you don’t want your child to get the vaccine, then they need to be at home with Zoom,” he said.
Orr said unvaccinated children should not be a threat to public schools and vaccinated children.
“That’s the point of vaccines. If you’re vaccinated, what’s your worry?” Orr said.
Orr said Alabama should respect a parent’s decision to not vaccinate their child.
“Fundamentally, if you do have a religious objection, I think that this state and our constitution wants to respect that and not subject parents to being subjected to an inquisition,” Orr said.
The bill received a favorable report, with Smitherman and Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, abstaining. It now goes to the full Senate.
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Author: Anna Barrett