Gov. Brad Little signs bill to let Idaho doctors refuse care if it violates beliefs
Idaho Gov. Brad Little (center) walks with the delegation of legislators, including House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian, (left) and Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, (right) selected to escort him to the House chamber to give his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025 at the Statehouse in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that prevents health care professionals and entities from being forced to participate in nonemergency procedures that would violate their sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.
Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene, and Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, co-sponsored House Bill 59, dubbed the Medical Ethics Defense Act.
The bill takes effect immediately, through an emergency clause.
Little signed the bill into law Wednesday, according to the governor's office legislation tracker.
The Idaho Legislature widely passed the bill on party-line votes, with opposition from all 15 Democratic lawmakers and support from all 86 Republican lawmakers who were present for votes on the bill. (There are 90 Idaho Republican lawmakers.)
'Health care providers shall have the right of conscience and, pursuant to this right, shall not be required to participate in or pay for a medical procedure, treatment, or service that violates such health care provider's conscience,' the bill states.
Bjerke has said the bill was patterned after a law passed in 2024, through Senate Bill 1352, which allowed counselors and therapists to refuse counseling clients in support of goals, outcomes or behaviors that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.
'This proposed legislation is intended to protect conscience rights of health care professionals and health care entities. It protects them from being forced to participate in non-emergency procedures that would violate their sincerely held religious moral or ethical beliefs,' Bjerke told the Idaho Senate.
Sen. Ron Taylor, D-Hailey, who opposed the bill, said the bill fundamentally confuses the relationship between personal conscience and professional duty.
Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Idaho's director Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman asked Little to veto the bill, saying 'it gives health care workers a license to discriminate.'
The bill 'will undermine medical standards, put patients' lives at risk, and create legal chaos for Idaho's entire health care system,' DelliCarpini-Tolman said in a written statement. 'No one should be denied care because of someone else's personal beliefs. Health care must be driven by medical expertise, not ideology.'
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