Idaho Becomes First State to Ban All Medical Mandates

It’s official. The State of Idaho has become the first in the nation to ban nearly all businesses - including public and private schools, and daycares - from mandating medical interventions as a condition of employment, receipt of goods and services, and receipt of education and child care. The bill sparked controversy in the state and nationwide earlier this week, when a carve out that would have exempted daycares from the prohibition against medical mandates was added to the bill immediately following Governor Brad Little’s veto of the bill. After a week’s worth of very hard work by local activists and their like-minded legislators, the bill passed both chambers of the Idaho legislature before being signed into law by Governor Little this evening. The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Robert Beiswenger and Sen. Dan Foreman.

The new law defines a “medical intervention” as “a medical procedure, treatment, device, drug, injection, medication, or medical action taken to diagnose, prevent, or cure a disease or alter the health or biological function of a person.” Under the law, nearly all persons and business entities in the state are prohibited from mandating anything that fits within this definition, or from taking adverse action against any adult or child who refuses a medical intervention. With the passage of the Idaho Medical Freedom Act, Idaho leads the nation in protecting personal medical freedom...