TMLC brought the law suit on behalf of Tara Nikolao, a devout Catholic, registered nurse, and mother of four. Mrs. Nikolao objects to vaccines manufactured from aborted fetal cells and other vaccines on religious grounds. Her lawsuit claims that government employees violate the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment, the religious protections in Michigan’s Constitution, and a Michigan statute when they subject parents to detailed interrogation about their religious beliefs. Full Article
In Mrs. Nikolao’s case, health department employees used the MDHHS Religion document, which falsely attributes a quote to Pope Benedict XVI, in an attempt to coerce her into violating her beliefs by vaccinating her children. The documents claims that, according to Pope Benedict XVI, “parents who chose not to give vaccines derived from [aborted fetal] cells would be in ‘more proximate cooperation with evil’ than those who gave their children the vaccines in question because of the life-saving nature of vaccines.” Pope Benedict never made such a statement. Moral Reflections, the Vatican document produced on vaccines containing the cells of aborted children by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, also did not contain any condemnation of parents who refuse to vaccinate, especially not the MDHHS characterization of parents who do not vaccinate their children as “evil.”
Kate Oliveri, TMLC attorney handling the case commented: “The new rule allows government employees to take on the role of priests and pastors, molding religious beliefs to further the State’s agenda. This is antithetical to the religious protections found in the Federal and Michigan constitutions and the religious protections enacted by the Michigan legislature.”