Posted on 12/19/2014 5:23:49 PM PST by Morgana
Yesterday’s vote by the Council of the District of Columbia to approve a bill banning even religious organizations from discriminating against employees for their “reproductive health” practices—including abortion—likely violates the Constitution and federal law, warned the D.C. mayor and attorney general weeks before the final vote.
The Council’s disregard for Mayor Vincent Gray’s “significant legal concerns” increases the possibility that he may veto the legislation, which also may be halted by Congress if it can get President Obama’s signature on the repeal.
“Today’s approval of this draconian bill confirms the D.C. Council’s intentional persecution of religious educators and other employers in our nation’s capital, after being given ample opportunity to protect religious freedom,” said Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “The D.C.Council has made it clear that nothing, not Congress or even the U.S. Constitution, will stand in the way of its agenda to promote the destruction of innocent human life and risk the additional shutdown of religious services in the District.”
The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act approved Wednesday with only a minor technical amendment expands nondiscrimination language in the D.C. Human Rights Act to protect an employee’s “reproductive health decisions,” which a committee report explained includes “termination of a pregnancy.” It makes no exception for religious schools, colleges and other organizations.
Should it become law, the bill would prevent Catholic and other religious employers from disciplining employees when they publicly disclose having an abortion, using abortion drugs or contraceptives, undergoing sterilization or in vitro fertilization, or having sex or getting pregnant outside of marriage. Standard teacher contracts at Catholic schools require teachers to display moral behavior to avoid scandalizing children.
(Excerpt) Read more at cardinalnewmansociety.org ...
Wait til they find out legal abortion violates constitutional law
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.