Amish individuals and schools in New York asked the Supreme Court on Monday to protect their religious rights. They said state laws had wrongly compelled Amish schoolchildren to receive vaccinations to attend Amish schools, violating their sincerely held religious beliefs. The Amish simply wish to be left alone to practice their religion in peace, said Aaron Siri, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. If the courts rule in favor of New York, the Amish will be forced to flee the state and live out their beliefs elsewhere, Siri said. New York has the fifth largest Amish population in the United States, with more than 25,000 Amish living there, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.
