Philadelphia, PA-March 21, 2022- Catholic Medical Association has taken action against the State of New York, filing an amicus brief to protect health care workers from a discriminatory vaccine mandate. 

The brief was filed on March 18th by attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of CMA after New York removed religious exemptions from its original mandate. 

“The right to conscience is critical to ensuring dignified health care, this principle must also extend to health care professionals when choosing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination or not,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., President of CMA. 

“As we have said in our previous statement on this matter, as an organization, CMA opposes mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment without conscience or religious exemptions,” added Dr. Treptow. 

In part, CMA states in it’s amicus brief: 

As part of its work, CMA advocates for the right of its members to obey their conscience and Catholic teaching in their medical work. While CMA members share diverse views on the COVID-19 vaccine and its ethical application, CMA believes that members should decide this issue for themselves. So, CMA opposes discriminatory laws—like New York’s health- care worker mandate—that coerce its members to make healthcare decisions over their sincere religious objections. This brief shows the religious discrimination that CMA members have faced in New York, the human cost of this discrimination, and how it has severely weakened New York’s healthcare system.

“Health care workers, like every other member of the American workforce, are free to live and work according to their religious beliefs. Yet by removing the religious exemption to its vaccine mandate, the state of New York is discriminating against people of faith—firing many skilled medical professionals and vindictively barring them and their families from unemployment benefits,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy, John Bursch.

CMA and Alliance Defending Freedom urge The Supreme Court to hear this case to protect New York health care workers and the state’s entire health care system.