The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would broaden the scope of federal antidiscrimination laws. But after intensive lobbying by prolife groups, the senators included an amendment that would not force schools and hospitals that receive federal funds to provide abortion insurance or services.
The bill, called the Civil Rights Restoration Act, would reverse a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that limited the reach of federal Title IX laws barring discrimination against women, racial minorities, the elderly, and the disabled. The Court’s Grove City v. Bell decision required federally funded institutions to comply with the antidiscrimination law only in the specific “program or activity” that received the funds. (Thus, a school’s financial aid program could be forced to comply if it did not receive federal funds, but some students received federal tuition assistance, which the Court considered indirect federal funding requiring compliance.)
Lawmakers and civil rights groups have repeatedly attempted to overturn the 1984 ruling so that schools or institutions receiving federal funds would have to comply with antidiscrimination laws. However, the abortion issue has proven to be a major stumbling block to getting legislation passed. Title IX requires institutional sponsorship of abortion in medical insurance and services to avoid discrimination against women.
In Senate hearings, prolife leaders testified to their concern that the Civil Rights Restoration Act would force hospitals and universities—even religiously affiliated ones—to provide abortions if any students received federal assistance. Three years ago, that concern led to a Senate filibuster that eventually killed the bill.
However, this time the Senate approved by a 56-to-39 vote an “abortion-neutral” amendment sponsored by Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.). Prolife groups called the vote a “key victory.”
Many women’s rights groups, which had been pushing hard for the antidiscrimination bill, were stunned by the prolife amendment. National Organization for Women President Molly Yard said her group would “not take this amendment.”
Religious Concerns
In other action on the bill, the Senate rejected an amendment favored by many church groups who are concerned that the legislation could lead to inappropriate governmental intrusion into some religious schools. The measure currently allows exemptions for church-controlled institutions, yet many groups fear this leaves independent religious schools vulnerable to government interference.
Curran Tiffany, an attorney with the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), said the bill’s “highly complex and seemingly deliberate ambiguous language” could “in the name of ‘non-discrimination’ suppress moral disciplines on the campus,” prohibit “inquiry into a student’s ‘marital, family, or parental’ status,” and “condemn career counseling that biblically differentiates between men and women.” Schools that do not take any federal money but have even one student who receives federal aid would be required to comply with all Title IX regulations.
A “religious tenets” amendment cosponsored by Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Oreg.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), which would have exempted independent religious schools, was defeated 56 to 39. The NAE, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Unversities, the U.S. Catholic Conference, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and other educational and Christian and Jewish groups had supported the amendment.
The Civil Rights Restoration Act now moves to consideration by the House of Representatives, where both sides of the abortion issue are expected to conduct intense lobbying efforts around the abortion-neutral amendment.
