New Equal Employment Opportunity Commission work accommodation rules for pregnant or recently pregnant women are threatened by the inclusion of abortion as a "related medical condition."
The proposal includes a controversial and broad definition of "pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions," which, while covering lactation, menstruation, and miscarriages, also includes birth control and abortion.
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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who was the lead proponent of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in the Senate, slammed the inclusion of abortion in the regulations, calling it "illegal."
“The Biden administration has gone rogue. These regulations completely disregard legislative intent and attempt to rewrite the law by regulation,” Cassidy said. “The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is aimed at assisting pregnant mothers who remain in the workforce by choice or necessity as they bring their child to term and recover after childbirth. The decision to disregard the legislative process to inject a political abortion agenda is illegal and deeply concerning.”
The Louisiana Republican's press release said the law was passed with "overwhelmingly bipartisan support" with the understanding that abortion would not be included.
The EEOC wrote that no part of the rule "requires or forbids an employer to pay for health insurance benefits for an abortion."
In addition, the Alliance Defending Freedom issued a statement saying the EEOC "hijacked" the legislation with its abortion language.
"Congress sought to help pregnant workers, not force employers to facilitate abortions," ADF senior counsel Julie Marie Blake said. "The administration doesn't have the legal authority to smuggle an abortion mandate into a transformational pro-life, pro-woman law."
Aside from abortion concerns, other accommodations would include longer and more frequent breaks, teleworking, job restructuring, and schedule changes in the rules the EEOC wrote to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
The PWFA was signed into law in December with the intent of restricting employers' abilities from being able to deny opportunities to pregnant employees or prospects due to their pregnancy or conditions derived from the pregnancy. Those protections should not subject the employer to an "undue hardship."
"This important new civil rights law promotes the economic security and health of pregnant and postpartum workers by providing them with access to support on the job to keep working, which helps employers retain critical talent,” EEOC Chairwoman Charlotte A. Burrows said in announcing the rule. “The EEOC’s bipartisan proposed regulation furthers the agency’s leadership role in fulfilling the promise of the PWFA’s protections."
The PWFA became effective on June 27, and the EEOC began accepting related charges the same day. Commissioners agreed to the proposed rule on Aug. 1.
EEOC's regulation lays out how the commission proposes to interpret and enforce the law, including defining terms such as "temporary" and "essential functions," as well as providing a number of examples for reasonable accommodations.
The rule is open for public comment for 60 days after its Aug. 11 publication date. The commission is seeking comment specifically on more examples for reasonable accommodations and data both on the proportion of pregnant workers who need accommodations and the cost of those accommodations.
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The PWFA was originally introduced to Congress in 2012 but did not garner enough support to pass until last year's budget compromise.
While pregnant women make up only about 1.6% of the total workforce in the United States, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families, some 70% of pregnant women in the U.S. were employed during the year of their pregnancy.