As it’s currently written, the Aderhold amendment would permit any faith-based child welfare organization in the country to discriminate against LGBTQ families, single mothers, atheists and others when making foster care and adoption decisions.

This bill would permit the religious ideologies of child welfare agencies to take priority over an obligation to care for the country’s most in-need children. This provision serves no purpose other than allowing faith-based organizations to “decline to provide, facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the provider’s sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral conviction,” plainly targeting LGBTQ families and individuals in particular.

As we have seen in several other states, this would be done by flipping the script and purporting to prohibit states from discriminating against these organizations for their religious belief. The Aderholt Amendment is virtually identical to a bill that passed in South Carolina, which is actually even worse than similar bills in other states, since it lacks language stating that faith-based child welfare organizations still must follow all other state or federal laws.

Not only is this provision unconstitutional, it is deeply unethical. Passing this discriminatory bill would be a lasting moral failure on the part of Congress.