Governor Signs Medical Conscience Protection Law

Rights of Conscience,

On Monday, Gov. Sanders signed a law protecting medical rights of conscience in the state.

Four years ago, Arkansas passed Act 462 of 2021 — the Medical Ethics and Diversity (MED) Act — to uphold healthcare workers’ rights of conscience.

Before that law passed, Arkansas’ conscience protections were narrowly focused on abortion and end of life decisions, and they protected very few people.

Act 462 changed that. It helped broaden those protections and apply them to all healthcare workers.

S.B. 444 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Lee Johnson (R — Greenwood) strengthens the healthcare workers’ rights of conscience law Arkansas passed in 2021.

Among other things, this good law adds whistleblower protections for healthcare workers, and it helps protect all medical professionals from having their rights of conscience violated.

With the governor’s signature, S.B. 444 is now Act 970 of 2025.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen issued a statement about the signing of S.B. 444, saying,

“Protecting free speech rights and whistleblower protections for health care professionals is good for doctors, good for patients, and good for medicine. Patients receive the best care when doctors can speak freely and express their opinion about harmful procedures without fear of government punishment. There is a disturbing trend in our country where health care professionals like Dr. Allan Josephson and Dr. Eithan Haim are being fired or raided by armed federal agents just for raising concerns about harmful practices and advocating for medical practices that are based in biology and common sense. We thank Sen. Kim Hammer and the Arkansas legislature for their efforts to bolster protections for medical experts and Gov. Sanders for signing this critical amendment to the state MED Act. We also thank Arkansas Family Council for its unwavering commitment to protecting medical rights of conscience for health care professionals.”

Act 970 will help further enhance the conscience protections Arkansas enacted four years ago. We want to thank Sen. Hammer and Rep. Johnson for sponsoring this good law, and we want to recognize the General Assembly for passing it and Gov. Sanders for signing it. It is important for our state to protect healthcare workers’ rights of conscience. Act 970 is a good law that will do exactly that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Full Court Press: Mid Vermont Christian School Asks for Religious Freedom Protections

LGBT, Religious Freedom, , ,

A private school in Vermont is asking a federal court to stop the state’s athletic association from penalizing the school after the school’s girls’ basketball team forfeited a game against a team with a male athlete who identifies as a female.

The following is from our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom regarding the case:

Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) was punished by Vermont officials after it chose not to violate its beliefs.

Read more: https://adflegal.org/article/vermont-…

Coach Chris Goodwin and the MVCS girls’ basketball team decided to forfeit a game rather than force its girls to play against a team with a male. MVCS believes that God uniquely created everyone either male or female with distinct characteristics and that sex cannot be changed, so participation would propagate a lie. Facilitating a girls’ basketball game in which a male plays would have forced MVCS to violate its beliefs.

But the Vermont Principals Association (VPA), Vermont’s state sports association, punished MVCS by barring it from participating in all VPA sports and activities, not just girls’ basketball. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of MVCS challenging Vermont’s religious discrimination.

After a federal district court’s unfavorable ruling, ADF appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. We presented oral argument before the 2nd Circuit on April 9, 2025.

Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders case details: https://adflegal.org/case/mid-vermont…

Stories like this one are part of the reason Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) in 2021 to prevent male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

We have written time and again about how women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

Female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, volleyball players, and others have seen their sports radically changed by men who claim to be women.

Letting men compete in women’s sports is unfair. It reverses 50 years of advancements for women, and in some cases it can even be dangerous.

Earlier this year President Trump signed an executive order that helps protects women and girls from being forced to compete against men. It also protects women’s right to privacy in locker rooms, showers, changing areas, and similar facilities, and it directs federal officials to withdraw funding from educational programs that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”

We appreciate our policymakers who work hard to protect fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas and across the country, and we appreciate our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom who are standing up for women and girls in federal court.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Governor Signs Physical Privacy Protection Law

Legislation, , ,

 On Monday Governor Sarah Sanders signed a law to protect physical privacy and safety in Arkansas.

S.B. 486 by Sen. Blake Johnson (R — Corning) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R — Perryville) protects physical privacy and safety of Arkansans in showers, locker rooms, changing rooms, restrooms, and sleeping quarters in government buildings and in state and local jails.

The law also applies to changing rooms, restrooms, and sleeping quarters in shelters for victims of domestic violence.

The law will require the facilities named in it to be designated for “male” or “female” use. The measure generally requires people to use the facility that corresponds to their biological sex.

In a statement, Governor Sanders said,

As a woman and a mom to a girl athlete, I was proud to make Arkansas law clear: men are men and women are women. It’s sad that some people don’t accept this basic fact.

Arkansas will always stand up for girl’s safety and common sense.

With the governor’s signature, S.B. 486 is now Act 955 of 2025.

Act 955 is similar to a law Arkansas passed in 2023 to protect privacy in public schools and on overnight school trips. Over the years, we have seen efforts to house men with women in jails, let men stay in women’s shelters, and give men access to women’s changing areas, locker rooms, showers, and restrooms.

Act 955 is common sense legislation narrowly tailored to protect physical privacy and safety in public buildings and shelters in Arkansas.

We want to recognize Sen. Johnson and Rep. Bentley for working so hard to sponsor this Act 955, and we want to thank the General Assembly for passing it and the governor for signing it. This is a good law that Arkansans can celebrate.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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