A group of doctors, lawyers, and faith leaders says Massachusetts lawmakers are going too far with proposed new legislation that would eliminate the state’s long-standing religious exemption for school immunizations.

Two bills — H.2554 and S.1557 — would remove the option for parents to claim a religious exemption when enrolling their children in school.

Supporters of the bills say they would improve protection of public health. Opponents say the benefits of the bills, if any, are outweighed by the harm to religious freedom of parents who object to the vaccines.

Advocates working with Health Action Massachusetts, which opposes the bills, say the change would permanently bar some students from classrooms even though Massachusetts already has some of the highest vaccination rates in the nation.

“Massachusetts has excelled in vaccine uptake for years and leads the nation with the highest school vaccination rates,” Alex Flett, a licensed school nurse, said in a Health Action Massachusetts press release. “Since 1967, the Commonwealth has respected diverse religious beliefs. Should those missing one or two vaccines for religious reasons be kicked out of school? This will not enhance my students’ health.”

Only about 1 percent of students claim a religious exemption, according to Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data cited in the press release.

Yet advocates say those families would bear the full weight of the proposed change. The same data show that 55.8 percent of public-school students are high-needs, 42 percent are low-income, 20.6 percent have disabilities, and 36 percent are non-white children.

Michael Tambe, a data scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said religious exemptions have grown only modestly in recent decades and that the increase tracks with the expansion of the state’s immunization schedule.

“In 1987, only eight vaccine doses were required for kindergarten entry. Today, that number has grown to roughly twenty,” Tambe said in the press release. “Religious exemptions have increased incrementally over the same period as more doses have been added to the Massachusetts schedule. There is a clear correlation — the more doses we require, the more exemptions are requested.”

Dr. Sylvia Fogel, a psychiatrist specializing in neurodevelopmental disorders, said removing the religious exemption could harm children with special needs.

“When proponents say families can simply homeschool, it’s just not true for many students with disabilities,” Fogrl said in the press release. “Our youth mental health crisis exploded after pandemic school closures — yet here we are facing legislation that would again force children out of schools, away from peers, sports programs, and essential therapies.”

Vanessa Pompei-Britt, a Massachusetts lawyer, said the religious exemption was deliberately added to state law more than 50 years ago to protect freedom of religion.

“After the Supreme Judicial Court’s Dalli v. Board of Education (1971) found it unconstitutional to limit protections to recognized denominations, the Legislature expanded it to include all sincerely held religious beliefs. It was a deliberate act — and it’s worked for over 50 years,” Pompei-Britt said.

Candice Edwards, executive director of Health Action Massachusetts, also said that if a pandemic breaks out, Massachusetts has recourse to keep students safe.

“State regulations already allow schools to temporarily exclude exempt students during outbreaks to protect public health," Edwards said in the press release. "Those protocols work — and they’ve worked for decades. There’s no justification for permanently excluding roughly one percent of healthy children from classrooms.”

Both pieces of legislation have been referred to the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health.

State Representative Andres Vargas (D-Lawrence) and state Senator Edward J. Kennedy (D-Lowell), who died last month, introduced the measures.

Vargas could not be reached for comment on Thursday.