Idaho’s “Medical Freedom Act (MFA)” protects adults from employers, businesses, government agencies, or other entities imposing medical interventions on them, including vaccines. Enacted this past July, the MFA protects adults from being coerced into using medical products, devices, substances, injections, or any technology, in any form. It’s simple — bodily autonomy is a fundamental, God-given right. Without control of the decisions regarding what happens with your own health, you are not free. (Note: Abortion can never be called “bodily autonomy” — because it requires killing another innocent human.)
This MFA victory ensures the people of Idaho will never again suffer the injustices we saw during the COVID-19 era. Many hard-working Idahoans were forced to choose between injecting a product they morally and logically disagreed with into their bodies or risk being fired and losing their livelihoods. While the MFA was a victory, it was only one step toward full medical freedom.
For the 2026 legislative session, the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is offering legislation to further strengthen health and medical freedom. The new bill, if passed, will repeal the remaining medical mandates in state law imposed on the most vulnerable among us, our children. Vaccine mandate legislation for school attendance was passed in 1978, and for daycare attendance in 1990. Both are egregious overreaches of governmental authority. Decisions regarding a child's medical care are solely the responsibility of the child’s parents.
Parents do not co-parent with the government.
Inalienable rights are universal, non-discriminatory, and guaranteed to every American regardless of color, religion, or age — this means the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness belongs to children as well. These fundamental freedoms recognize the inherent dignity of every person, regardless of their stage in life. Protecting children’s health freedom is a vital part of honoring that promise, ensuring that parents and guardians have the ability to make decisions for their children’s well-being. In defending this right, we protect not only the youngest among us but the very foundation of what it means to be a free people.
Idaho has strong exemption laws and the highest exemption rates in the country, but these are not enough. Mandates for certain products, procedures, or interventions have no place in Idaho law. Just as the MFA protects adults, we must take the next step to fully protect children.
All mandates must be removed from Idaho law.
The IFF’s proposal also addresses improvements to the MFA that will strengthen it. Because of the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Biden v. Missouri, hospitals, clinics, and facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid may require vaccinations unless an employee has a medical or religious exemption.
Though state law, such as the MFA, cannot override the U.S. Supreme Court, it also does not have to acknowledge it. One change to the MFA will be removing the parts of Idaho law exempting Medicare and Medicaid facilities from the provisions of the MFA. When a new SCOTUS case overturns the precedent, Idaho law will already be in place to protect healthcare workers.
The State of Florida is also working on this issue — administrative rules pertaining to school and daycare vaccine mandates have been removed. However, Florida is in the same position as Idaho, having to wait for the legislative session to repeal the mandate in its state law. Being a much more conservative state, there is no reason Idaho should not be able to accomplish this important work in 2026.
The Idaho political and social climate is finally in a place where a total repeal of the vaccine mandate can become a reality. Our reality. Our children’s reality. Idaho has the opportunity to be the first state to fully protect medical freedom for every single resident. Idaho can lead the nation in a return to freedom and bodily autonomy.
