Congress Should Stop DC Council’s “Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act” (RHNDA) and “Human Rights Amendment Act” (HRAA). Our help is needed to stop two dangerous pieces of legislation recently passed by the Council of the District of Columbia and signed by the mayor. These acts, RHNDA and HRAA, are subject to disapproval by Congress. On March 6, 2015 the DC government forwarded these laws to Congress, which has 30 legislative days to pass resolutions of disapproval; after this time other avenues might be able to block the laws’ implementation.
These laws “violate the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, as well as by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and other federal laws,” according to letters sent to House and Senate on March 20 by the Archbishop of Washington along with the chairmen of five committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Congress should be urged to block these laws.
