Letishia Silva
Election Information:
Party:
Democrat
District:
13
Office:
State Senate
Contact Information:
https://letishiasilvaofidaho.com/
@silvaletishia
Survey Responses:
S = Support
O = Oppose
NR = No Response
O = Oppose
NR = No Response
|
Life
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
1.Protecting Life: Protecting the right to life of an unborn baby with a beating heart. |
X | ||
2.Taxpayer Funded Abortion: Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that provide abortion. |
X | ||
3.Physician-Assisted Suicide: Allowing voluntary physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. |
X |
|
First Amendment
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
4.Conscience Rights for Professionals: Prohibiting the government from denying required licensure or certification to individuals because of their religious or political beliefs. |
X | ||
5.Conscience Rights for Faith-Based Organizations: Exempting faith-based organizations (e.g. adoption/foster care providers, private schools) from regulations that cause them to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. |
X | ||
6.Prohibiting De-Banking/Insuring Based on Beliefs: Prohibiting financial institutions from shutting a customer’s bank account or canceling their insurance because of their religious or political views. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
People should be free to hold and express their religious or political beliefs, but those beliefs should not automatically exempt them from neutral laws, professional standards, or responsibilities to other people. If tax dollars are used in any capacity, then there should be no religious hierarchy in how services are provided or how laws are applied. Not everyone practices a religion, and government has a responsibility to serve everyone equally. In a professional setting, your personal beliefs are neither inherently right nor wrong—they are personal. What matters is whether you can perform your professional responsibilities fairly, follow the law, and provide the same standard of service to the people you are entrusted to serve. That isn’t an attack on faith. It’s what fairness looks like in a government that belongs to everyone.
|
Family
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
7.Protecting Kids from Social Media: Requiring platforms to by default prevent underage accounts without parental permission, preserve parents' authority when access is allowed, and remove addictive design features and data exploitation from underage accounts. |
X | ||
8(a).Parental Rights: Allowing parents to obtain professional counseling for a child struggling with gender confusion to help the child find comfort with his or her biological sex. |
X | ||
8(b).Parental Rights: Protecting parents from losing custody of their child solely because they treat their child consistent with his or her biological sex. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
Parents have both the authority and responsibility to protect their children from the very real dangers that exist online. Parents should have the primary say in whether and when their child has access to these platforms. At the same time, platforms should have a responsibility not to intentionally design services in ways that exploit children through addictive features or the collection and use of their personal data. This isn’t about government raising our children or banning children from the internet. It’s about giving parents the authority to make informed decisions for their own children while requiring companies to take reasonable responsibility for the products they create and the risks they knowingly expose children to.
|
Education
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
9.School Choice: Allowing the use of tax credits, vouchers, and/or education savings accounts to cover the cost of children attending the school of their parents’ choice, including private religious schools. |
X | ||
10.Free Speech at School: Protecting teachers and students from being forced to refer to a person by inaccurate pronouns that do not align with the person’s sex. |
X | ||
11.School Healthcare Disclosure to Parents: Requiring schools to inform parents of any mental, physical, or emotional health information and treatment that a child is receiving at school. |
X | ||
12.Transparency in School Curriculum & Activities: Giving parents access to the curriculum, presentations, and activities that their children are learning in school and allowing them to opt their children out of school extra-curricular activities, presentations, or specific lessons to which the parents object. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
I support parents having choices in their children’s education, including private and religious schools. However, if a religious organization chooses to provide education based on its own religious affiliation, I believe that organization should have a financial responsibility to support that choice rather than shifting the entire cost to taxpayers. If public funds are used, there must be clear standards, measurable milestones and benchmarks, transparency, and accountability for how those dollars are spent. Those receiving public funds should be held to the same expectation of responsible stewardship, regardless of their religious affiliation or organizational status. And when public funds are misused, there should be firm, consistent, and meaningful consequences. Accountability only works when the rules apply equally and there are consequences when those entrusted with taxpayer dollars fail to meet those responsibilities. I support parent choice. I do not support giving anyone—government, private organizations, or religious institutions—a blank check with taxpayer money and currently that’s what’s happening in Idaho. I believe teachers have an enormous responsibility to educate and support their students, and I don’t believe disputes over pronouns should become the primary focus of that relationship. Teachers should be expected to maintain a professional and respectful environment for every student while keeping the primary mission of the classroom focused on education and student success. Respect doesn’t require me to agree with every personal belief, and disagreement shouldn’t prevent us from treating one another with dignity.
|
Health and Welfare
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
13.Medical Rights of Conscience: Protecting health care workers from losing their jobs if they decline to participate in a procedure or treatment that violates their personal beliefs and conscience. |
X | ||
14.Women’s Privacy: Preventing males who identify as female from entering sex-separated spaces intended for females, such as showers, locker rooms, bathrooms, dormitories, women’s shelters, prisons, etc. |
X | ||
15.Protecting Pregnancy Centers: Ensuring pregnancy centers that provide life-affirming support to women and their families are not targeted or penalized by government officials. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
Abortion is healthcare. That is a matter of fact. For decades, women had constitutional protections surrounding reproductive healthcare that have since been rolled back. Regardless of where someone stands personally on abortion, we should recognize what that means historically for women’s rights and bodily autonomy. I also believe that children are a gift from God, and if we truly believe that, then their safety, well-being, dignity, and quality of life should be protected with that same level of seriousness. Unfortunately, Idaho continues to see far too many reported cases of child abuse and neglect. To me, that should force us to ask some very uncomfortable questions about whether our systems are actually doing what they are supposed to do. If we are serious about protecting children, then we need real checks and balances, meaningful oversight, transparency, and accountability throughout the child welfare system. Idaho’s foster care system is a prime example of where I believe we need to take a hard look at what is working, what isn’t, and—most importantly—what needs to change. Protecting life cannot stop at birth. If we say children are precious, then we have an obligation to make sure the children already here are safe, supported, and given the opportunity to thrive.