The United States was the scene of significant legal battles in state appellate courts. In August 1994, claiming concern that a child might be raised without a mother, a hospital in Connecticut obtained a court order at 3:30 a.m. to force a blood transfusion on Nelly Vega. The argument of her husband and of her attorney that her bleeding had stopped and that she had clearly stated her refusal of blood was pushed aside. However, on April 16, 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the transfusion order “violated [Sister] Vega’s common-law right to bodily self-determination.” That ruling did not come in time to prevent the transfusion, but it will benefit others. In Florida, in a case involving Tina Harrell, an appeal court rebuked both a hospital and a trial court for challenging her refusal of blood transfusions.

In a child-custody dispute, a trial court judge in the United States had ruled that the three-and-a-half-year-old daughter of Teresa Palmer could not attend meetings or share in the field ministry until the age of seven. But the Nebraska Supreme Court has now set aside those restrictions on religion.