Opponents of California’s new law requiring children to get vaccinated against various diseases in order to attend public or private schools have sued in San Diego federal court to block enactment of the law on Constitutional grounds.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, seeks a court order to stop the California Department of Education, the California Department of Public Health and others from blocking unvaccinated children’s enrollment in public schools. Among the plaintiffs is Ana Whitlow, a San Diego resident who wants to enroll her children in Ocean Beach Elementary and Correia Middle School without the required shots.

“Defendants’ conduct infringes on the plaintiffs’ and their children’s fundamental rights, including parental rights, right to bodily integrity, right to informed consent and to refuse medical intervention, right to privacy, and/or right to free exercise of religion, by requiring plaintiffs to choose between those rights and the right to education,” the lawsuit said.

The law in question, Senate Bill 277, is one of the strictest school vaccination laws in the country. It requires all children to be vaccinated against various communicable diseases in order to attend school and eliminates the state’s long-standing “personal-belief” exemption.


The goal of the law is to increase vaccination in pockets of the state where rates are low enough to endanger public health. Lawmakers introduced the legislation after an outbreak of measles at Disneyland in December 2014, which sickened 147 people.

Supporters of the legislation have said the science is clear that vaccines protect public health and the public benefit outweighs any health risks. Opponents have pushed back, holding protests and threatening legal action, recall votes for lawmakers who supported the bill and ballot initiatives asking voters to repeal the law.

As of July 1, the date the law took effect, parents who had claimed an exemption based on their personal beliefs are required to fully vaccinate their children against diseases including measles, mumps and rubella, by kindergarten and seventh grade, the state’s two vaccine checkpoints. Unvaccinated children must get a valid medical exemption or be home-schooled. Exemptions are allowed for children with serious health issues.

Last year, legislative supporters said they were confident the law would withstand legal challenges. They said similar laws have held up in state and federal courts.