“In Missouri, it is unlawful for any student to attend school unless he or she is properly immunized and can provide satisfactory evidence of such immunization or unless he or she is properly exempted.” Nothing requires the State to provide an exemption to a neutral and generally applicable mandate on religious grounds, but Missouri has elected to do so, through statutes providing that proper exemption is subject to regulations of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Those regulations require the use of a prescribed form. That regulation is within statutory authority, does not violate the Missouri Religious Freedom Restoration Act, has a rational relationship to the State’s interest in preventing childhood disease, does not bar the expression of religious beliefs, and does not compel complicity in vaccination in violation of any constitutional provision.
For plaintiff to state a claim against defendant, plaintiff must describe a justiciable controversy. A justiciable controversy in an action for declaratory judgment, bringing a pre-enforcement challenge to a provision of law, includes the defendant’s authority to enforce the challenged provision against the rights of the plaintiff. The plaintiffs did not allege that defendant local health authorities had any authority over, or made any attempt to enforce, the use of a form for exemption to vaccination requirements prescribed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Judgment on the pleadings, dismissing the petition, affirmed.
Audrey Baker, et al. vs. Crossroads Academy-Central Street, et al.
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