- A bill that could haveserious consequences

for religious freedom protections

is making its way through Congress.

It's called the Do Not Harm Act

and, if passed, wouldstrip away certain parts

of the Religious FreedomRestoration Act or RFRA.

Supporters of the bill believe the RFRA

is often used as a weapon against women,

minorities, and the LGBTQ community

and that's why theywant to chip away at it.

Religious freedom advocates, though,

say these protectionsare absolutely necessary

for people of faith tobe able to hold onto

and live out their religious beliefs.

And one of those advocates is Matt Sharp

with the Alliance DefendingFreedom who joins us now.

Matt, good to see you,thanks for being here.

- Thanks for having me on.

- Matt, you say the nameof this bill is misleading.

Do No Harm.

Why is that?- Right.

Well, as you mentioned,this bill would gut

very important religiousfreedom protections

for countless Americans,people of all walks of life:

Christians, Muslims,Jews, and so many others

that, throughout the 25-year history

of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

have had their right tofreely live out their faith

protected against government efforts

to tell them that they mustviolate their conscience

or do something thatviolates their beliefs.

- Matt, who's pushing thisand what's their motive here?

- The lead sponsor in the House

is Representative Joe Kennedy,

and they're pushing thisidea that RFRA is harmful,

that it's being used tohurt other individuals

and that's simply false.

For it's 25-year history,

the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

has been used to, for example,

protect the freedom ofa Native American boy

to be able to wear his hairlong consistent with his faith.

It's protected healthcareproviders and individuals

who objected to paying for contraceptions

or abortions or things like that,

and it even helps faith-basedadoption providers

be able to operateconsistent with their faith

while helping kids to find a forever home.

So we want to make sure

that these protections are protected.

- What would this look like if it passed?

Can you give some examples

of how people mightnegatively be affected,

especially people of faith?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So one of the examplesof this would be, again,

take the Little Sisters of the Poor.

They object to paying for contraceptives,

and they were able tosucceed in their claim

because of laws like RFRA,

and so, if the Do No Harm Act was enacted,

then Little Sisters of thePoor and other religious groups

that don't want to pay forabortions or contraceptives

would be forced to do so inviolation of their faith.

There's many other examples

of how people of faithwould find themselves

losing this importantprocedural protection

if Do No Harm Act was passed.

- Matt Sharp with ADF, good to see you.

Thank you so much again.- Thank you so much.