New Florida legislation heralds increased medical freedoms for citizens
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a legislative package that scores three massive wins for medical freedom. The new laws place a permanent ban on COVID mandates and restrictions, introduce new protections for physicians' freedom of speech and practice, and ban gain-of-function research in Florida.
Here is a closer look at what each bill accomplishes:
Senate Bill 252, described on Florida's government website as the “most comprehensive medical freedom bill in the nation” states no patient [can be] forced by a business, school, or government entity to undergo testing, wear a mask, or be vaccinated for COVID-19."
DeSantis comments that the legislation “protects against medical authoritarianism and rejects the hysteria around COVID-19. . . . The purpose of [the mandates] was not to safeguard your health. The purpose of them was to control your behavior.”
Senate Bill 1580 protects physicians' freedom of speech and allows medical professionals to legally decline to provide healthcare services if they don't align with their personal beliefs. “It ensures that physicians can follow the data, not dictates. And we want our physicians practicing evidence-based medicine; we don't want [them] to just defer to authority or to just follow the herd,” DeSantis emphasizes.
House Bill 1387 bans gain-of-function research, which involves the modification of viruses to increase their infectiousness or severity in order to better understand their function for the development of treatments. This bill makes Florida the first state in the nation to place a ban on this type of research, which Governor DeSantis cites as the probable cause of COVID-19.
Image source: flgov.com
Governor DeSantis emphasizes Florida's focus on putting its citizens first from the very beginning of COVID:
Our early actions during the pandemic protected Floridians and their freedoms. We protected the rights of Floridians to make decisions for themselves and their children and rejected COVID theater, narratives, and hysteria in favor of truth and data. These expanded protections will help ensure that medical authoritarianism does not take root in Florida.
State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo praised DeSantis' bold stand on behalf of Florida:
Governor DeSantis has been a pinnacle for freedom, and today we advance the cause of public health and individual autonomy in medical decisions. From empowering patients to safeguarding children in schools, Florida continues to enshrine individual liberty and lead with common sense.
