Freedom Angels was founded in 2019 by three women who met at protests against the tightening of California's vaccination regulations: Denise Aguilar, Heidi Muñoz Gleisner and Tara Thornton.
[1][2][3][4][5][6] The group's efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, as they failed to gather the 600,000 signatures necessary to force a popular initiative referendum on the issue after the legislation was adopted.
[8] Like other anti-vaccination groups, Freedom Angels latched onto the movement against COVID-19 restrictions[5] in order to gain visibility and increase its fundraising capabilities, in the opinion of Democratic state senator Richard Pan, who authored California's vaccine laws.
Several people who were targeted by these public attacks resigned, citing concerns about their family's safety, such as the chief health officer for Orange County Nichole Quick.
"[3] Freedom Angels became involved with the attempt to force a recall of Governor Gavin Newsom, but because of their hard-right turn, the organizers of the initiative cut ties with them.