On August 30, 2024, NWLC, the ACLU, and twenty-three additional organizations dedicated to workers’ rights and gender justice—including labor unions and legal advocacy organizations—filed an amicus brief in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals defending regulations from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) that make clear that employers must reasonably accommodate employees for their pregnancy-related needs, including abortion care. 

In this case, a group of states led by Tennessee sued the EEOC, attacking the agency’s interpretation that the PWFA requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees who need abortion care.  

Congress enacted the PWFA to fill gaps in federal law protecting pregnant workers and provide an explicit right to reasonable accommodations for workers affected by “pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions,” a term taken directly from the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA). The EEOC’s regulations recognize that abortion—which has long been covered under the PDA—is covered under the PWFA. The law therefore requires employers to provide reasonable abortion-related accommodations to workers. 

Our brief shows how abortion is part of the full spectrum of pregnancy-related care for which workers may need accommodations. It argues that carving out protections for abortion-related accommodations from the EEOC’s regulations is unworkable, creates confusion for workers, employers, and the courts, and harms workers’ health and economic security.