Login
Gov. Brad Little has “given no indication” whether he’ll sign or veto a bill passed by Idaho lawmakers that would prohibit nearly all medical mandates in the state, according to the bill’s author, Leslie Manookian.
If Little does sign the bill, Manookian thinks it could set a precedent for other states to follow.
The Idaho Medical Freedom Act would “protect the rights of Idahoans to make their own medical choices free of the fear of losing their jobs or being excluded from normal daily life,” Manookian said.
The bill also prohibits schools and businesses from mandating medical interventions as a condition of entry.
Manookian, who is also president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, explained:
“Basically, no employer, no business, no entertainment venue, no gym, no store could mandate a medical intervention in order for you to access their business, to shop there, to work there, anything like that.”
The only exceptions would be if an employer requires personal protective gear due to an occupational hazard and situations in which the employer receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, such as some hospitals and medical practices.
The Idaho House of Representatives passed the bill March 19 in a 47-23 vote, after the Senate, on Feb. 26, voted 19-14 in favor of the legislation.
The bill was delivered to the governor’s desk Monday morning, Manookian said. Under Idaho law, the bill will become law after five days if the governor doesn’t veto it.
“Little has until Saturday at 11:30 a.m. to veto or sign,” Manookian said. “If he does nothing, it automatically becomes law.”
Pathologist and Idaho resident Dr. Ryan Cole promised in a March 20 video posted on X to run against Little in the next primary election if the governor vetoes the bill. Cole is an outspoken critic of COVID-19 vaccines and mandates.
In the video, Cole said, “Governor Little, do the right thing. You have the opportunity to set an example for our nation … If you choose to veto the bill, this will be the end of your political career.”
BREAKING: My dear friend & fellow Idaho freedom fighter @drcole12 just announced he will run for governor of Idaho if @GovernorLittle does not sign the Idaho Medical Freedom Act (SB 1023). Droves have moved to Idaho in recent years for our freedom & they will support you Ryan!! https://t.co/8ITpzgkxgF
— Leslie Manookian (@LeslieManookian) March 20, 2025
Idaho Attorney General Raúl R. Labrador also voiced support for the bill in a March 24 X post:
“We’ve come a long way from the public policy mistakes of COVID-19. Mask and vaccine mandates should never again be part of a crisis response. We should never be so afraid that our freedoms are sacrificed for the illusion of safety. Idaho’s Medical Freedom Act needs to become law.”
‘Medical freedom should be a universal norm’
Manookian said she wrote the bill after witnessing what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. “While common sense tells us that medical freedom should be a universal norm, this fundamental right was trampled during the COVID era.”
Manookian said she took the Coronavirus Stop Act that Idaho Sen. Ben Adams wrote and got passed in 2023, “and I expanded that.”
While Adams’ 2023 bill focused on prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Manookian’s bill prohibits all forms of mandated medical interventions.
The bill defines “medical intervention” as any “procedure, treatment, device, drug injection, medication, or action taken to diagnose, prevent, or cure a disease or alter the health or biological function of a person.”
“Creams, pills, injections, anything that someone forces you to do in order to live a normal life is prohibited,” Manookian said.
According to the bill:
“No state, county, or local government or business entity in Idaho shall provide or offer any different salary, hourly wage, or other ongoing compensation or benefits to an employee based on whether the employee has or has not received or used a medical intervention.”
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won’t write.
Bill will ensure there are ‘no more Doug Camerons’
Manookian said the bill is important because it “puts the power back in the individual’s hands.”
It would mean that Idahoans cannot be forced — except for those two small exceptions — “to submit to any kind of a medical intervention in order to engage in normal life,” she said.
“There is nothing like that anywhere in the nation,” Manookian said. “We’re going to turn this into a model legislation which can be introduced across the country.”
Last fall, Idaho drew international attention when one of its local health boards became the first in the country to remove COVID-19 vaccines from its clinics.
Idaho’s Southwest District Health Board on Oct. 22, 2024, voted to pull the shots from the 30 locations where it provides healthcare services after hearing data related to COVID-19 vaccine harms.
One of the people who addressed the board before its vote was Doug Cameron, an Idaho resident who received a COVID-19 vaccine when his employer “strongly implied” he should get the shot.
In an earlier interview with The Defender, Cameron, who previously avoided getting a COVID-19 vaccine, shared that he was 64 and healthy when he received his first and only Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine on April 5, 2021.
Ten days later, he was left paralyzed from a blood clot.
Manookian said her bill is “going to ensure that there are no more Doug Camerons.”
If made law, the bill will restore freedom to where it should be, she said.
“All of our private personal medical choices should be made by us and us alone. We are the only ones who have to live with the consequences of our choices.”
Related articles in The Defender- Idaho Health Board First in U.S. to Defy CDC and FDA by Removing COVID Vaccines From Clinics
- Exclusive: Idaho Man Paralyzed 10 Days After Getting J&J COVID Vaccine
- ‘This Is a Winnable Battle’: Experts Explain How Citizens Can Work With Local Health Authorities to Get COVID Vaccines Removed
- Dr. Ryan Cole: ‘The Shots Need to Stop’
