Conway Regional Hospital faces a lawsuit over its vaccine mandates for employers and its failure to grant certain religious exemptions from the mandate.
The lawsuit names six individuals who are past or present employees of Conway Regional. According to the lawsuit, all six of the plaintiffs are Christians who have religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine. The lawsuit alleges that Conway Regional is requiring employees to provide unreasonable information in order to obtain a religious exemption from the hospital’s vaccine requirement.
Some pro-lifers around the country have objected to the COVID-19 vaccines, because cells originating from aborted fetal tissue were used in the vaccines’ research and development.
In September Conway Regional made headlines after the hospital announced that employees who wanted a religious exemption because of the vaccine’s connection to abortion would also have to sign a form attesting that the employees would not use other medicines — such as Tylenol and Tums — that have been tested on aborted fetal tissue.
The lawsuit against Conway Regional alleges,
Conway Regional is discriminating against certain Christian employees by segregating vaccinated employees and providing them with better terms and conditions of employment and stigmatizing certain Christian employees, including these Plaintiffs, who object to the COVID-19 vaccine and have sought a religious exemption. . . .
Conway Regional has failed to accommodate Plaintiffs by not granting them a religious exemption from the requirement to take the COVID-19 vaccine and/or failing to accommodate them by making unreasonable requests to provide information relating to the Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.
The State of Arkansas has joined multiple lawsuits against the Biden Administration’s federal vaccine mandates, and in September the Arkansas Legislature passed two identical measures requiring employers to provide certain accommodations for employees who decline to get vaccinated.
Family Council has a long history of working on exemptions from vaccine mandates in Arkansas. We don’t oppose immunizations, but we do believe people’s rights of conscience ought to be respected when it comes to getting a vaccine. State law should protect people from being forced to violate their conscience.
Related posts:
Conway Regional Hospital Denies Allegations in Religious Discrimination Lawsuit, Asks Court to Dismiss Claims
Updated: Arkansas Senate Sends COVID Vaccine Mandate Measures Back to Public Health Committee
House, Senate Public Health Committees Advance Vaccine Mandate Legislation
Arkansas Joins Coalition of States Opposing Biden Administration’s Vaccine Mandate