SB 277, a bill that would end the personal belief exemption for childhood vaccinations in California, has been approved by three policy panels and will be sent to the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee. The Judiciary Committee approved the bill over the protests of people who say that it unconstitutionally restricts children’s access to education.

Committee chairman Hannah-Beth Jackson argued that SB 277 would help protect the health of young people. “This bill ultimately is about the health and well-being of our children and what in the world is more important than that,” said Jackson.

Currently, Californian parents are allowed to refuse vaccination for their children if they believe it violates their personal beliefs. The new bill, sponsored by Democratic Senators Richard Pan and Ben Allen, would make the ten vaccines currently recommended by the state compulsory. Any additional vaccines deemed necessary in the future would still fall under a personal belief exemption.

Opponents dressed in red to protest the bill while the senate was in session. During the Judiciary Committee’s deliberation the California Coalition of Health choice brought in Mary Holland of the New York University school of law to testify against the bill. “SB 277 stigmatizes and discriminates against a small minority of parents and children who chose to selectively vaccinate or not vaccinate,” said Holland.

The bill’s supporters countered the protests by saying that the courts have historically supported states’ rights to mandate vaccination, and that the bill will reduce the rates of infectious disease. “SB 277 is a constitutional way to help improve immunization rates and protect our children from communicable diseases,” said Dorit Reiss, a UC Hastings College of Law professor who testified before the Judiciary Committee.