States opposing federal regulations allowing leave for abortions under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) are likely to face significant challenges. The reason is that these regulations echo longstanding practices under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This perspective was communicated by employment attorneys this past Monday.
The inclusion of the terms “pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions” during the drafting of the PWFA by Congress is lifted directly from Title VII. This has been further modified by the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. This clarification was offered by Kate Mueting of the firm Sanford Heisler Sharp. “In using those words in the … act, Congress wasn’t drafting new words,” she noted. “They were using words that had a meaning, that had precedent attached to them.”
According to the law’s definition, “pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions” encompasses abortion. Thus, for those challenging the federal regulations providing medication leave for abortion under the PWFA, the endeavor might prove to be formidable due to the legal precedents established by the Constitution and reinforced via Title VII.
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