Tag: health freedom

Testimony of Leslie Manookian on the Idaho Medical Freedom Act – Senate State Affairs Committee

Posted on by Leslie Manookian

February 5, 2025

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee:

My name is Leslie Manookian. Although I am the founder of a nationally recognized nonprofit, I am here in my personal capacity as a long-time resident of Idaho. My family moved here in 1976 when I was twelve and I’ve called Idaho home ever since. Growing up, I could have never imagined that Idaho would become a place that locked its people down, forced citizens to cover their faces, stand on floor markers 6 feet apart, or produce proof of vaccination in order to enter a venue or business, but that is exactly what happened. Idahoans lost their jobs, suffered isolation and mental health issues, were denied participation in normal society, and dozens even died – all on the basis of empty promises, if not outright dishonesty. These are the reasons I am here today, because I want Idaho to lead the nation in ensuring that such intrusive and authoritarian infringements never happen again and in recognizing that no right is more fundamental than the right to choose what medical interventions we accept.

This right, medical freedom, is foundational to our nation, our Constitution, and our shared human dignity. The Idaho Medical Freedom Act, sponsored by Senator Dan Foreman, would restore this ethical principle in Idaho and ensure that Idaho stands as a beacon of liberty in declaring that no individual will be coerced into receiving a medical intervention against their will, with the exception of those organizations which receive CMS funds. It ensures that employment, education, entertainment, and public participation remain accessible to all, regardless of their medical choices.

The right to bodily autonomy is enshrined in the very fabric of the American legal system. The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the American ideal that individuals have the right to make deeply personal medical decisions without interference or coercion.

The Constitutional Foundation of Medical Freedom

The principle of bodily autonomy is so deeply embedded in American jurisprudence that even forced medical procedures in the name of law enforcement have been struck down as unconstitutional. In Rochin v. California (1952), the Court ruled that forcibly pumping a suspect’s stomach to retrieve evidence was a violation of bodily integrity.

In Griswold vs. Connecticut(1965), the Supreme Court ruled that every American enjoys a zone of privacy around them into which the state may not intrude.

In Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health(1990), the Court held that “a competent person has a constitutionally protected liberty interest in refusing unwanted medical treatment.” This ruling reaffirmed that the right to refuse medical intervention is not a privilege—it is a fundamental right.  

In Washington vs. Harper 1990, the Court ruled that even prisoners have a liberty interest in refusing unwanted medical interventions unless they pose a threat to themselves or others due to their mental state.

Finally, in Washington v. Glucksberg (1997), the Court reaffirmed the fundamental nature of deeply personal medical decisions, recognizing that autonomy over one’s body is an essential aspect of liberty.

The right to make one’s own medical decisions is not granted by the government. It is not a privilege subject to approval. It is a sacred, God-given, inalienable right, woven into the very fabric of our constitutional republic. And it is a right that has been consistently upheld by our Supreme Court. This bill is in no way radical, it is merely a codification of our basic human rights.

This right is as fundamental to a free and just society as are our cherished rights to freedom of expression, religion and assembly. I would argue it is the most basic human right because absent the right to control what medical interventions we allow into and onto our bodies, what meaningful rights do we truly have? I care not about my speech if my body and the direction of my health do not belong to me.

Furthermore, if the government may not force a person to undergo a medical procedure for the sake of another, how then can we justify forcing individuals to accept medical interventions to participate in society?

The Dangers of Medical Coercion

When we allow medical coercion—whether by the government, employers, or businesses—we set a dangerous precedent and history has shown us that whenever bodily autonomy is sacrificed for the greater good, injustice follows. Just consider, for a moment, how those engaged in worship outdoors in northern Idaho during Covid were arrested. Or how the family whose newborn baby was kidnapped by hospital staff and CPS when the parents declined a hepatitis B shot in the first few days after birth, although hepatitis B is a disease for which only IV drug users and the sexually promiscuous are at risk.

Consider the Supreme Court case of Buck v. Bell (1927), in which the Supreme Court upheld the forced sterilization of individuals deemed “unfit” to reproduce. In his opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “Three Generations of Imbeciles are Enough” – all for the greater good of society, of course. That decision, later recognized as a moral stain on our society, serves as a grim reminder of what happens when government is given power over personal medical decisions.

It is a slippery slope when we allow even well-intentioned policies to infringe upon individual rights. The Idaho Medical Freedom Act ensures that such infringements will not happen in our great state. It ensures that no business, school, or government entity may force an individual to choose between a medical intervention and their livelihood, education, or access to public life.

What This Bill Protects

Under this act, no individual may be:

  • Denied employment or forced to undergo a medical intervention as a condition of employment, except in very limited circumstances involving federally funded entities.
  • Excluded from schools or universities for their personal and private medical decisions.
  • Refused entry into public buildings or services due to their medical choices.
  • Discriminated against based on their medical choices.

Addressing the Public Health Argument

Some may argue that public health concerns justify medical mandates. But our freedom is not conditional. Our Constitution does not grant rights that are subject to the whims of fear or political pressure. It guarantees them outright. The Covid era serves as a stark reminder of what happens when we sacrifice our principles due to fear, pressure, or money.

Public health should be restricted to public concerns such as controlling waste in our public spaces or effluent from businesses. The intrusion of public health into our intimate private health matters must never be tolerated again and was never envisioned when public health laws were originally enacted.

Nowhere in state or federal law do we find the power or authority to dictate personal medical choices, but during recent years, the scope of public health has been increasingly and alarmingly construed to include private health. This must be stopped.

The Role of Informed Consent

At the heart of medical freedom, is the ethical principle of informed consent—a pillar of modern medical ethics. It has been universally acknowledged that every individual has the right to evaluate the risks and benefits prior to any medical intervention and to make a voluntary decision which means free of any type of coercion.

The Nuremberg Code, established after the horrors of forced medical experimentation under the Nazis wisely and resolutely determined that voluntary consent is “absolutely essential” in medical decision-making. This principle is echoed in international law and treaties such as the Declaration of Helsinki, the US Belmont Report, and UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights in more recent decades.

When a person is forced to undergo a medical intervention under threat of losing their job, education, or public services, that is not consent—it is coercion and it does not belong in a free or just society.

My dear family friend, Doug Cameron, is here today. Doug was a vital and fit man until he was catastrophically injured and paralyzed by the Covid shot which his employer pushed on him due to his employer’s fear. That employer fired Doug after Doug was disabled by the shot as he was no longer able to do his job as well. Doug’s employer has since passed away but Doug will have to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair for a medical intervention he categorically did not want.

This must never be allowed to happen again.

Time to Codify Medical Freedom

I urge you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee to vote yes on S-1023. Medical freedom should not be a partisan issue. This is not about whether you personally choose to accept or decline a medical intervention. This is about the fundamental right of every individual to make that decision for themselves. Idaho already banned Covid shot mandates in the Coronavirus stop act, why should we treat any other medical intervention any different?

If we fail to defend this principle now, what comes next? Will someone decide we need to be chipped to participate in society? Will an employer require us to alter our DNA to enhance our productivity? Will we be barred from society if we don’t take some pill or injection? If we accept the idea that bodily autonomy can be sacrificed for the “greater good,” where do we draw the line?

I ask you to consider: Do we want to live in a society where other people, entities, or organizations have the power to dictate what medical interventions we receive or do we want to live in a society where individual choice is not just respected but held sacred, and where medical freedom is upheld as an inviolable human right?

I believe in the latter. I believe in freedom. And I believe that this bill is necessary to protect that freedom.

I urge you all to support the Idaho Medical Freedom Act—because Idaho rejects coercion. Because we recognize that no one—no employer, no business, no government—has the right to override the personal medical decisions of an individual or to condition our lives on them. Because no one else knows our medical background or health needs. And because no one else has to live with the consequences of our medical choices.

Let us stand for liberty. Let us stand for bodily autonomy. And let us ensure that Idaho remains a state where medical freedom is not negotiable—because in a free society, it is not a privilege, it is a human right. S-1023 will enshrine this most sacred and basic human right in law.

The Winds of Change

Posted on by Leslie Manookian

Three decades ago, I took nearly every drug and vaccine that was recommended to me. It never occurred to me that the pharmaceutical industry might be misleading me—or the public in general—or that my own health might be at risk.

That changed when I heard the CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world explain that, in rare cases, his company’s new promising blockbuster drug had killed a few people during the Phase III clinical trials. He mentioned that the FDA would therefore require the company to place a “black box” warning on the packaging, cautioning doctors and patients about the drug’s potentially deadly side effects before it could be licensed.

Then, without hesitation, the executive looked me in the eyes and said words I will never forget: “We still think we can do $7 billion in peak sales.” He was referring to the revenue potential of the drug—despite knowing that it could take lives.

As shocking as this story might seem, this is, unfortunately, standard operating procedure for the pharmaceutical industry. Naïve and unsuspecting Americans are merely collateral damage in the industry’s relentless pursuit of ever-increasing profits.

According to Violation Tracker, the pharmaceutical industry has paid an astonishing $122 billion in penalties for fraud, false marketing, and pervasive misconduct. While this might seem punitive enough to encourage self-regulation, the truth is that $122 billion is merely a drop in the bucket compared to the industry’s colossal profits of $1.9 trillion between 2000 and 2018. This figure only includes the 35 largest drug manufacturers and excludes the past five years, when COVID-19 vaccines were globally promoted under questionable pretenses.

When it comes to vaccines, this industry—so deeply rooted in questionable practices—benefits from a liability shield granted by Congress in 1986. While American health authorities assure us that vaccines are unequivocally safe, the vaccine industry itself does not stand behind its products. It bears virtually no legal or financial liability for the injuries and deaths its vaccines might cause.

Educated and informed Americans understand that our healthcare system is hopelessly corrupt and broken. That’s why the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) exists: to protect our rights and hold bad actors accountable. HFDF envisions a country where healthcare prioritizes health, healing, and well-being. We understand that health does not come in a bottle, pill, or injection, and that our system needs a fundamental overhaul.

Reforming the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its subsidiary agencies is a monumental task. We extend our best wishes to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he assumes the role of Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. perhaps knows better than anyone the playbooks of Big Pharma, Big Chemical, Big Agriculture, and others. We hope he can bring meaningful and much-needed change to Washington, D.C.

The winds of change are blowing, and we’re rooting for you, Bobby!

Policy Imperatives for Health Freedom

Posted on by Leslie Manookian

Written By: Leslie Manookian | President | Health Freedom Defense Fund

As a requirement for discussing and appreciating the imperative of health freedom in the USA, we must first define what is meant by health freedom. A simple definition is: the right of every American to decide what medical interventions to put into or onto one’s body, the right to access and use the medical and healing modalities of one’s choice, the right to maintain one’s health according to one’s conscience, and the right to live free of involuntary medication be it via the food supply, the water supply, or something airborne.

In a free and moral society, health freedom is not simply a convenience, it’s an imperative. In this vein, in the event of injury or illness, all Americans must possess the absolute right to choose what medical interventions and treatments to accept and what medical or healing modalities to utilize in order to address illness or injury; Americans must be free to choose how to maintain their health whether that be through nutrition, supplements, herbs, drugs, or a myriad of healing modalities; Americans must have access to truthful information regarding how the seeds for plants and animal feed and the food in our food supply has been grown or developed, medicated, processed, and packaged; and Americans have the right to exist in a society free of water and airborne medications, insect vectors, and chemicals.

Health freedom can only exist in a free and moral society which values each and every member of that society. This prerequisite thus excludes medical mandates of any kind. It is immoral to force another individual to risk their life for the theoretical benefit of another. Moreover, government does not have the moral authority or power to dictate what medical products any American puts into or on his or her body. If anyone in government does possess that power, then no American is truly free, nor does he or she possess any meaningful right whatsoever – Americans are merely chattel.

In order to create a society based on true health freedom, the following policy shifts should be implemented, as a first step. There are many more changes which should be implemented as well, but these proposals would address some of the most glaring, pernicious anti-liberty and anti-health aspects of our system as it exists today:

1. Ban all Medical Mandates:

The Declaration of Independence states, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”  Medical mandates are prime facie violations of our founding documents.

Health freedom demands prior voluntary informed consent before a medical treatment or intervention is administered. Medical mandates are thus, by definition, antithetical to voluntary consent and therefore must be prohibited in a free and moral society. No single individual in government knows the medical history of any American, knows what is best for Americans, or has to live with the repercussions of any choices made by Americans, thus, medical mandates are never justified in any circumstance.

2. Repeal the Bayh-Dole Act:

“The Bayh-Dole Act, formerly known as the Patent and Trademark Act Amendments, is a federal law enacted in 1980 that enables universities, nonprofit research institutions and small businesses to own, patent and commercialize inventions developed under federally funded research programs within their organizations.”

Under this program, government scientists may receive up to $150,000 per year on their patents.

In theory, Bayh-Dole incentivizes bright scientists to seek employment at federal health agencies rather than entering more lucrative private industry by allowing these taxpayer-funded scientists and other individuals and entities to retain the patent rights to intellectual property developed during their taxpayer-funded research and development activities.

In practice, this Act forever realigned the interests of taxpayer-funded scientists away from the American people and toward their own interests and profits and the profits of the private industries with which they collaborate. Dr. Anthony Fauci and his team at NIAID infamously owned half the Moderna Covid vaccine patent which incentivized the misguided covid era policies leading to a colossal violation of the rights of Americans demonstrating the perverse incentives created by Bayh-Dole and the necessity of repealing the act.

3. Repeal the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1992:

“The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) was created by Congress in 1992 and authorizes FDA to collect user fees from persons that submit certain human drug applications for review or that are named in approved applications as the sponsor of certain prescription drug products. Since the passage of PDUFA, user fees have played an important role in expediting the drug review and approval process.”

In 2022 alone, the pharmaceutical industry paid $2.9 billion in user fees amounting to 46% of FDA’s entire budget including $1.4 billion or 66% for FDA’s drug approvers’ salaries and $197 million or 43% of the biologics (vaccines) program budget. As a direct consequence of PDUFA, the FDA has a vested interest aligned with the profits and success of the pharmaceutical industry rather than the health and wellbeing of the American people.

4. Repeal the Public Readiness and Preparedness Act (PREP Act) which authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a PREP Act declaration.

“The declaration provides immunity from liability (except for willful misconduct) for claims:

  • of loss caused, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from administration or use of countermeasures to diseases, threats and conditions
  • determined by the Secretary to constitute a present, or credible risk of a future public health emergency
  • to entities and individuals involved in the development, manufacture, testing, distribution, administration, and use of such countermeasures

A PREP Act declaration is specifically for the purpose of providing immunity from liability, and is different from, and not dependent on, other emergency declarations.”

The PREP Act desecrates the ethical principle of informed consent by protecting individuals from liability even when they expressly act contrary to patients’ wishes and instructions and must be repealed.

5. Repeal the Affordable Care Act:

The Affordable Care Act anchors Americans to the pharmaceutical and drug-based medical paradigm even though a majority of Americans used at least one form of “alternative” medicine in 2021 and spent $30.6 billion in out of pocket expenses for those holistic medicine services in 2023 according to Statista. Instead, implement a health savings program which permits Americans to access the health and medical modalities of their choice which in turn would foster more competition and reduce the exorbitant health care costs in the US by breaking the extant monopolies held by the medical and insurance industries.

6. Repeal the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA):

NCVIA shields vaccine makers and those who administer vaccines from liability (except for willful misconduct), creating a perverse incentive to industry to develop a never-ending stream of vaccines which are then mandated by the states and a perverse incentive to medical professionals to charge for and inject patients irrespective of the harm they may cause. Further, the NCVIA protects industry, medical professionals, and vaccine programs by creating a separate administrative federal court structure lacking due process and discovery, managed by “Special Masters” instead of judges, all in violation of the constitutionally protected right to due process. While NCVIA contains other provisions designed to protect American families and ensure the safety of the national vaccine supply, Congress is not conducting proper oversight and the promises made in 1986 at the time of the Act’s passage have not been upheld. As such, Americans who have been injured or killed by vaccines are left with astronomical medical bills and to fend for themselves.

7. Prohibit Private Donations to Government Entities:

Prohibit private individuals, foundations, corporations, contractors, any other person or entity from donating or otherwise giving money to any agency or entity of the federal government. FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) accept money from private actors such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Pfizer thus skewing the interests of the agency in favor of these private actors and away from the American public. Gates has collaborated with FDA and the CDC Foundation takes money from the pharmaceutical industry whose products CDC is responsible for monitoring for safety.

8. Cooling-off Period for Senior Federal Employees:

Enact a 5-year cooling-off period before which agency leadership, deputies, and other key officials may depart federal agencies in order to enter the companies they regulate in the private sector.

9. Prevent Conflicts of Interest:

Eliminate conflict of interest waivers so that no person serving on a health agency committee, board, or other regulatory entity may have a conflict of interest. Disclosure of conflicts of interest is insufficient to ensure the agencies pursue the interests of the American people. Individuals with financial or ideological conflicts of interest should not serve as decision makers in any capacity.

10. Prohibit Government Grants to Nonprofits:

Prohibit government from allocating taxpayer dollars to nonprofit. Nonprofits exists to serve the public interests and should be funded directly by American citizens. If a nonprofit has a worthwhile mission, the public will gladly support it. Government exists to protect our rights and should not be in the business of picking winners and losers nor should it be using third parties to pursue policies outside the reach and review of the public.

11. Ban Water Fluoridation:

While water fluoridation programs are broad spread, they are not only dangerous from a health standpoint, they are forced medication in violation of the ethical principle of informed consent. Research comparing the health outcomes and IQs of communities that do and do not fluoridate their water supply reveal that children in the fluoridated water communities have reduced IQs and therefore inferior prospects in life. Other research has documented the health hazards of fluoride, an industrial waste product.

In addition, as fluoride is added to municipal water supplies, residents of those communities have no way to opt out and therefore are subjected to involuntary forced medication. No one should be forced to consume drugged water in order to maintain a biological necessity.

12. Ban Release of Genetically Modified Insects

Two tenets of good health are abundant exposure to sunshine and fresh air, however in some states, the state governments have collaborated with private business to release genetically modified mosquitoes into communities. While these mosquitoes are often designed to breed with one another and eliminate the “dangerous” species going forward, the health impacts of humans being bitten by these insects is not well understood. Nor should a person have to be risk being bitten by one of these creatures in order to venture outside. This amounts to a form of forced medication absent any form of consent and must be ended.

These recommendations should be understood as necessary first steps to begin correcting the disastrous health policy environment that exists in the United States today and to restore true health freedom in the US which would allow all Americans to decide what medical interventions to allow into or onto one’s body, which health and medical modalities to utilize in maintaining their health, and the ability to live free of involuntary medication be it via the food supply, the water supply, or the air we breathe.

Update October 3, 2024: Policy Imperative 6. has been edited to note that the NCVIA shields medical professionals from liability as well as the vaccine industry.

Originally posted on HealthFreedomDefense.org.