Welcome to the source for in-depth analysis and legislative insight on the battleground issues facing families across the Gem State.
Idaho Family Strong provides comprehensive coverage, policy briefings, and action alerts on crucial legislation that defines our state’s future.
Our mission is to educate and mobilize citizens to protect the foundational rights of the natural family and to ensure that Idaho family policy reflects the inherent values and freedoms of our citizens.
Review our key focus areas below and get informed on how you can defend families and traditional values in the Idaho legislature.
According to the 4th National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, two married biological parents is the family structure with the lowest rates of child abuse and neglect by far Unfortunately, reports collected by the state of Idaho do not provide data on family structure in maltreatment cases that require intervention from child protection services and out-of-home placement. This hinders our ability to pursue evidence-based reforms that strengthen families and reduce risk factors.
Idaho has an interest in establishing policy that encourages children to be raised in circumstances that are most likely to lead to their safety and happiness. Having better data would surely bolster the case for pro-family and pro-marriage initiatives/reforms as a means of child protection.
The Sexual Revolution– and the resulting breakdown of the family–has brought misery to millions.
For example, social researchers have long known that pornographic material harms developing brains and can contribute to:
Constitutional Law has long recognized the harm done to children and individuals in the absence of sexual boundaries and has affirmed the responsibility of the state to provide protection and societal boundaries.
Idaho law contains provisions intended to protect children from pornography and other harmful content in the public domain. Unfortunately, the explosion of the internet has made it far more difficult to protect children from predators and those who do real harm to them in ways that would never be tolerated in person.
Sadly, some algorithms and social media drive kids toward harmful content and are deliberately designed to be addictive and to short-circuit parental safeguards for minors.
Those responsible for providing this online content should be held accountable for the harm they do. Where appropriate, safeguards should be put in place to ensure parental oversight is required as an additional protection for minors.
Few doctrines of the sexual revolution have been more harmful than the confusion that results from deconstructing, not only standards of sexual behavior, but the idea of sex itself. The denial of biological reality creates psychological dissonance that often manifests as intense pain and confusion. The medical procedures which have been promoted as “the solution” to this pain cause life-long health harms and, in some instances, sterilization.
Performing these procedures on minors is a violation of Idaho state law. Yet, some Idaho providers refer children to out-of-state providers to undergo these procedures.
Licensed Idaho providers should not be protected in referring children out of state to obtain otherwise-illegal treatments.
Idaho has taken a leadership role in prosecuting online child sex trafficking, but there is much that still needs to be done.
Idaho law should send a crystal clear message, through stiff criminal penalties, that sex trafficking and sexual abuse will not be tolerated.
At the moment of fertilization, a human person is created that meets all scientific requirements of life. Every human person is valuable and deserving of fundamental rights, regardless of their size, development, age, or whether or not they are desired by their parents.
Idaho currently prohibits the destruction of preborn life with exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is endangered.
Idaho’s current “Life of the Mother” exceptions allow medical personnel to exercise broad discretion in determining when the life of a mother is endangered in a way that requires the termination of a pregnancy to preserve that mother’s life, yet some, who would love to dismantle Idaho’s protection for preborn children, spin exaggerated narratives, claiming that mothers’ lives are jeopardized by an inability on the part of physicians to provide critical care. Others claim that cares compromised because physicians are leaving Idaho due to our pro-life policy.
Idahoans should not be deceived by these scare tactics. The Hippocratic oath itself IS pro-life and real-time studies have debunked the false claim that medical professionals are “fleeing” pro-life states.
Lastly, those examining this issues should keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of the complications that get public attention present during the last trimester of pregnancy when the early delivery and care of a viable baby would NOT constitute an abortion. When complications present earlier than this, current Idaho law gives physicians broad latitude and protection in their medical decision making.
While not generally included in the umbrella of “pro-life” the distribution of harmful and illegal drugs is an epidemic that is destroying life and lives in astonishing numbers. Idaho Family Strong stands opposed to efforts to legalize sale and distribution of these substances, including gate-way drugs like marajuana. While arguments are made that access to these substances is beneficial to some individuals, research does not yet bear these claims out, and the devastating effects of drug legalization in other states stands as a stark warning of how these substances destroy the lives of individuals and families.
Experience has shown that where these drugs are legalized, those with an economic interest in promoting them always push the envelope and seek to erode the limits that prevent them from full and open access to every market for any purpose, including recreational use. Idahoans should be slow to believe otherwise.
Freedom of conscience is a defining characteristic of American freedom. Conscience is the final arbiter of right and wrong. Protections in the law that prevent the government from coercing individuals to act contrary to their conscience safeguard society at large against government abuse. This is particularly true of our medical and mental health professionals whose hippocratic oath is to “Do no harm.” Because they deal with complex circumstances that are often not black and white, they must be free to exercise professional and ethical judgment in their practices, retaining the fundamental right to decline to take actions that, in their moral or ethical judgment, will cause harm.
Contrary to popular claims that allowing providers to decline to provide services results in a lack of care, protecting the right of providers to practice consistent with their conscience keeps professionals in the field which would otherwise leave. Freedom, not coercion, is the most and only reliable way to ensure a robust healthcare economy on all fronts.
Idaho has made huge strides in protecting the ability of our medical and mental health professionals to practice consistent with their conscience without fear of retaliation or reprisal by government agencies. However, anti-religious discrimination is still a reality and a concern for some professionals.
For example, current state law grants preferential treatment to the ethical standards of a single private association which promotes a singular world view that not all counselors adhere to. Those who disagree with this world view should have the freedom to form professional associations that support their own values as long as those values are not in conflict with other state laws.
Associations should be recognized by the state, or not, based exclusively on their ability to perform the activities required under state law.
Idaho veterans and their families move often and have unique needs due to their service. Unfortunately, Idaho licensing requirements are sometimes so rigid that they do not recognize the years of experience and the training that these individuals receive in the military. For example, a military chaplain may serve in some religious roles, but spends the lion’s share of their time working in a professional counseling role. Idaho law should not discount or discriminate against their experience and training simply because their role also has a religious component.
Military Chaplains, whose training and experience exceeds or is equivalent to the training programs we are familiar with in Idaho, should be granted Idaho licensure and allowed to serve the people of our state.
As courts have attempted to apply a principle of separation of church and state, the pendulum has swung too far and the state has been to become overtly anti-religious in many policies. Efforts to ensure that the state remains neutral in the promotion of one denomination or institution over another, while still safeguarding the right of individuals to express religious viewpoints or publicly engage in worship are critical if true religious freedom is to be maintained. Anti-religious policies in public schools provide classic textbook examples of this “over-correction.”
Idaho law should safeguard the religious expression of individuals and foster a general world-view consistent with the Judeo-Christian ethos that is foundational to the survival of a free society.
This could include protecting the right of students, where it is not otherwise disruptive, to lead out in offering public prayers; the right of teachers to include religious texts, like the Bible, in cultural studies; and the opportunity for individual prayer and meditation to be part of school routines.
In recent years, radical gender ideology has rejected the immutability of biological sex—and this change of course threatens to destroy sex-based protections by obliterating the legal distinction between the sexes.
Men and women should be treated with equal respect, which includes protecting women’s opportunities, privacy, and dignity. Erasing distinctions between biological men and biological women threatens to undo these essential protections for women, including:
Ironically, this misguided push for the “equality” of men pretending to be women endangers the privacy and safety of real women.
A legal definition of male and female is also necessary for important government functions. For example, law enforcement officials often rely upon accurate government identification records like birth certificates and driver’s licenses. Similarly, public health officials need factual vital statistics to identify and analyze health disparities between biological men and biological women.
Transparency is critical to ensuring that government agencies respect the statutory limits of their authority and do not overstep that authority in ways that are harmful. Expanded requirements regarding audio or video recordings of Idaho Child Protective Services (CPS) interviews would provide an additional safeguard for Idaho families.
Idaho law declares that parents possess a high duty and right to nurture and direct their children’s destiny, including their upbringing and education. This includes the right to direct medical or health-related care that may be provided.
Yet, nationwide, nearly 6,000 schools have enacted policies requiring school officials to conceal information from parents when their children begin identifying as the other gender at school, according to Parents Defending Education.
Unfortunately, this trend hasn’t spared Idaho. In Coeur d’Alene, a ten-year-old girl was told she was a boy by school officials, who encouraged her to socially transition and instructed her on how to hide her new lifestyle from her family.
Parents, not school employees, bear the ultimate responsibility for talking with their children about sexuality and addressing concerns children might have in regard to their sexuality.
Adults who secretively “transition” other people’s children without their knowledge or consent should be held accountable for any resulting damages.
A recent legislative interim committee looked at child custody cases in Idaho courts. A number recommendations came out of that committee:
