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A member of the U.S. Congress has drafted legislation that would strip federal funding from schools that don’t allow parents to apply for religious exemptions from vaccination requirements for their children.
The GRACE Act, or Guaranteeing Religious Accommodation in Childhood Education Act, drafted by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), would target elementary and secondary schools, as well as local and state educational agencies.
The legislation would not require state authorities or educational institutions to offer religious exemptions, but it would deny federal funds to those entities if they maintain vaccine mandates that don’t include provisions for religious exemptions.
“The denial of religious exemptions to families and children is un-American and unconstitutional,” said Michael Kane, CHD’s director of advocacy and founder of Teachers for Choice. “CHD and I thank Rep. Steube for putting forth this important legislation to right this wrong that is a clear violation of the First Amendment.”
The GRACE Act is a response to the “alarming erosion of civil rights” that occurred under the Biden administration, said Cait Corrigan, a former congressional candidate from New York and an advocate for medical freedom and religious liberty.
“This issue is one of religious freedom, individual liberty and parental rights, which I often describe as part of a broader response to years of increasing concern,” Corrigan said.
Steube’s office did not respond by deadline to The Defender’s request for comment on the legislation.
‘A matter of conscience, faith and the fundamental dignity of every family’
Corrigan said the proposed legislation is “not just an issue of policy” but “a matter of conscience, faith and the fundamental dignity of every family in this country.”
She said:
“Our children deserve protection from government overreach and no parent should ever be forced to betray their beliefs for their children to receive a fair and equal education. Protecting our children requires protecting conscience rights, whether those beliefs are popular or not.”
Efforts to attract congressional co-sponsors for the GRACE Act are ongoing, Kane said.
“Right now, we want people to call Rep. Steube, thank him for making this happen, and call their own representatives, to ask them to become an original co-sponsor of the GRACE Act,” he said.
20% of children live in states that don’t allow religious exemptions
California, Connecticut, Maine and New York currently don’t allow religious exemptions, but those four states account for 14 million children — or 20% of all U.S. children, Kane said.
Religious exemptions are now facing challenges in other states, including West Virginia, where state education authorities and others, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are challenging Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s January executive order recognizing religious exemptions for school attendance.
“West Virginia is in the midst of a heated battle, where an executive order has brought back religious exemption to vaccination, but since there is no legislation passed, the battle has moved to the courts,” Kane said.
Last month, the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging Morrisey’s executive order was struck down by a West Virginia court on procedural grounds. Earlier this month, the ACLU refiled its lawsuit.
In Massachusetts, two bills are pending before the state legislature that would prohibit religious exemptions.
However, legislation proposed this month in Wisconsin would require schools to inform parents about their rights to vaccine exemptions and how to obtain them.
GRACE Act could open door to other similar bills
The GRACE Act applies only to religious exemptions for students under 18, but Kane said the legislation may allow for broader exemption efforts in the future.
He said:
“This bill could do that. In the COVID-19 era, religious exemptions were denied to hundreds of thousands of adults across the nation, if not more. COVID-19 forced adults to seek religious exemption in large numbers. When many were denied, this forced a new look at religious exemption for children to attend school.”
Several individual plaintiffs have prevailed in recent lawsuits that challenged the denial of religious exemption requests by their employers.
Last month, a federal jury awarded $4 million to St. Louis school employees who were denied religious exemptions from St. Louis Public Schools’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees.
Last year, plaintiffs succeeded in similar federal lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Other lawsuits are in progress, including one in Massachusetts by a former Tufts Medical Center emergency room doctor who was fired after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds.
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Support for religious exemptions is growing among U.S. parents
Several health and medical freedom organizations support the GRACE Act, including CHD, Autism Action Network, the Global Wellness Forum, the Million Mamas Movement, Moms for America, Moms for Liberty, the New York Alliance for Vaccine Rights and Teachers for Choice.
The draft legislation and its growing number of supporters are the result of months of grassroots efforts, including “over 30 meetings and follow-up discussions with members and staffers in Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” Corrigan said.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last month show the percentage of children granted religious exemptions from school immunization requirements reached a record high during the 2024-2025 school year.
A poll of over 1,000 registered voters conducted June 24-25 by John Zogby Strategies showed that 60% of parents with young children supported reviewing the current childhood vaccine schedule.
Findings published last month in JAMA Network Open showed 60% of pregnant women and young mothers are considering delaying or refusing routine vaccinations for their children.
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the journal Vaccine in February found that 74% of elementary school personnel surveyed in California did not believe their schools had the authority to deny medical exemptions and that a majority opposed COVID-19 mandates.
A survey conducted in January by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that public support in the U.S. for religious exemptions nearly doubled over the last six years.
Related articles in The Defender
- Vaccination Rates Hit Record-Breaking Low for Third Year in a Row as Religious Exemptions Reach Record High
- Wisconsin Lawmaker Wants Schools to Inform Parents About Their Rights to Vaccine Exemptions and How to Obtain Them
- Advocates for Religious Exemptions Notch Victories in West Virginia, Massachusetts
- ‘An Encouraging Sign’: 60% of Pregnant Women and Young Mothers May Delay or Refuse Routine Vaccines for Kids
- 60% of Parents Support Review of CDC Childhood Vaccine Schedule, New Poll Shows
