Written by Don Byrd
Legislation proposed last week would protect faith-based adoption services from anti-discrimination laws that conflict with the organization’s religious beliefs. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) introduced the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2014, which reads in part:
The Federal government and any State that receives federal funding for any program that provides child welfare services . . . shall not discriminate or take an adverse action against a child welfare service provider on the basis that the provider has declined . . . to provide . . . for a child welfare service that conflicts with . . . the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions.
In 2011, an Illinois law barring discrimination in adoption service contracts prompted Catholic Charities to file suit challenging the measure. A judge ruled against them, noting that there is “no right to a contract with the government.” The organization subsequently abandoned the fight and chose to discontinue providing such services in the state, rather than comply with the non-discrimination law.
As Think Progress points out, this new law would presumably bar states like Illinois from revoking or denying licenses for violating such laws, when they conflict with religious beliefs.
