September Newsletter
What I love most about working for Advocates is the opportunity to defend our First Amendment right to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those are the cases I am most passionate about.
The past few months have been challenging for me because we have been inundated with calls, emails, and requests for legal help about the COVID-19 shots. People are calling us who have either been physically harmed by or are being forced to take the COVID-19 shots against their will. These are extreme situations with fellow citizens facing horrible ultimatums – either get the “vaccine” or sacrifice their careers, education, military service, health insurance, and more.
One of the most heartbreaking calls I received was an articulate, compassionate, and courageous nursing student who told me she was going to withdraw from her last semester of nursing school because the school was forcing her to get the shot. Her religious exemption had been denied, and after years of schooling and tens of thousands of dollars spent to become an RN, she was out of options. Praise God, I was able to help her get an exemption after multiple letters and phone calls to the school and forcing the school to find a hospital clinical position that honored her exemption.
We get hundreds of these cries for help in our inbox every day, and they are coming from all sectors of society. It is impossible for us to provide individual representation to everyone, and that has been the biggest challenge. Thankfully, we have been able to put out resources to help people advocate for themselves. Over ten thousand people have downloaded our religious exemption form and visited our related frequently asked questions page. In addition to our team of lawyers helping people directly, we also have put our staff to work on vaccine issues – from receptionists to law clerks and interns providing encouragement and self-help resources to as many people as they can.
We are also aggressively litigating two cases in federal court challenging vaccine mandates. One case is against Los Angeles Unified School District and their vaccine requirement for children ages 12 and up, which is enforced by a “Microsoft Daily Pass” app. The other case is against Loyola Marymount University for their vaccine mandate and their discrimination against students with exemptions. We are now strategizing about challenging the Biden Administration’s illegal plan to force COVID shots on private employers with 100 or more employees.
These vaccine issues are not fun, nor are they directly religious liberty cases. But it’s not far-fetched that the government will mandate vaccines to attend church, and it will become a direct threat on churches and religious liberty. And even though these vaccine cases are outside the traditional scope of Advocates issues, we WILL NOT stand aside while anyone, especially the government, forces people to inject an experimental shot into their body through coercion and intimidation.
I also still have the privilege of defending the First Amendment right to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, our next newsletter will be about a new Advocates case about a pastor that was arrested by five police officers for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ on a street corner. And it’s all on video!
Thank you for your support in fighting this colossal legal battle. With God’s help, we will continue defending your right to control what gets injected into your body. Please pray for our team – that the Lord will continue giving us the physical and emotional endurance to press on through this escalating battle. Knowing so many of you are praying and supporting the ministry financially is such a blessing and encouragement, thank you for the critical role you play!
In His Service,
Nada Higuera, Esq.
"I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1,2 NIV