Republican AGs file complaint challenging new rule mandating employee coverage for abortions
The rule had been applauded by reproductive rights groups, condemned by antiabortion ones
Seventeen Attorney Generals filed a lawsuit challenging a new federal rule that stipulated employers must provide paid leave for employees who seek abortions.
The AGs submitted the complaint. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin issued a statement on Twitter following the action, which centers on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. This law was passed in 2022 to ensure pregnant workers got the financial support they needed from employers.
“This is yet another attempt by the Biden administration to force through administrative fiat what it cannot get passed through Congress,” Griffin said. “The PWFA was meant to protect pregnancies, not end them.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights explained the decision by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in greater detail. The final rule was published on April 19, 2024, and entitles workers to a range of pregnancy-related accommodations—including time off for childbirth, abortion, miscarriage, and fertility treatments.
The EEOC rule also includes pregnancy accommodations like temporary exemptions from lifting duties and considerations for managing morning sickness. The new rule will take effect on June 18. Workers can now ask for time off to obtain an abortion and recover.
According to the Federal Register, the Commission issued its notice of proposed rulemaking on August 11, 2023, and invited public comment on this proposal from August 11, 2023, through October 10, 2023. Citizens submitted approximately 98,600 comments to the EEOC during these 60 days. Several of those comments were signed by multiple individuals. Thus, the total number of comments was over 100,000. The filing by the AGs contends that 54,000 of those could be characterized as antiabortion.
The commission included abortion in its list of situations, childbirth, and other medical conditions–covered by the rule. Many comments supported the inclusion, while others pointed out that abortion had not been covered in the PWFA text.
The complaint asked a federal court in Arkansas to declare the new rule conflicts with the PWFA. It also asks that the court prevent the EEOC from enforcing the new component.
I've included the complaint below.
