Judge strikes down federal rule requiring employers to accommodate abortions

(CN) — A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana struck down a Biden-era regulation Wednesday that included abortion as a pregnancy-related condition employers are required to accommodate under federal law.

U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in two related cases in which the states of Louisiana and Mississippi and four Catholic organizations challenged the rule in their capacity as employers. Joseph ruled that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, a federal agency that enforces laws against employment discrimination, exceeded its statutory authority when it issued a final rule in 2024 that included abortion as a condition that is protected under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

“By inserting the definition of ‘related medical conditions’ from the Final Rule into the PWFA, the EEOC has taken the position that the PWFA requires covered entities to make reasonable accommodations to employees who receive an abortion and prohibits covered entities from taking adverse employment actions against employees who request or use accommodations in relation to receiving an abortion, unless the covered entity is entitled to an exemption or defense,” Joseph wrote in his opinion.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022, requires employers with 15 or more employees to accommodate workers with known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions. Joseph ruled that the EEOC’s inclusion of abortion as a pregnancy-related medical condition under the act was contrary to the legislative intent of the law, finding that, in light of “the political, social, and religious significance of the abortion issue in this country,” the EEOC had “failed to point to clear congressional authorization for the inclusion of abortion protection in a statute intended only to accommodate and protect female employees during pregnancy.”

Joseph found it significant that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was passed months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization .

“The Court cannot simply ignore the fact that the PWFA was enacted just six months after the Supreme Court decided Dobbs , which removed abortion as a constitutional concern and expressly returned the issue to the States,” Joseph wrote. “Congress was well aware of the implications of Dobbs when it passed the PWFA, and had it wanted to include an abortion accommodation provision in the PWFA, it surely would have done so.”

Joseph declined to rule on the Catholic organizations’ argument that the rule violated religious freedom by not providing a blanket exception for employers with religious objections to abortion and instead having the EEOC evaluate claims for religious exemptions on a case-by-case basis as a defense in EEOC proceedings. He found that the religious freedom argument is “a separate issue that the court is ill-equipped to address on the briefs before it.”

Joseph vacated the abortion accommodation requirement in the final rule, as well as any content in related implementing regulations and guidance mandating accommodations for “purely elective abortions,” though he clarified that the ruling does not apply to “abortions stemming from the underlying treatment of a medical condition related to pregnancy.”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill celebrated the ruling in a post on the social media platform X.

“ANOTHER VICTORY: Federal court grants Louisiana’s request to strike down EEOC rule requiring employers to accommodate employees’ purely elective abortions,” Murrill wrote. “This is a win for Louisiana and for life!”

But A Better Balance, a workers advocacy group that spearheaded a decades-long push for the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, slammed the ruling as a step back for reproductive rights.

“This court’s decision to deny workers reasonable accommodations for abortion-related needs is part of a broader attack on women’s rights and reproductive freedom,” the group’s president, Inimai Chettiar, said in a statement. “The Courts and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have consistently interpreted pregnancy-related needs to include abortion-related needs. The EEOC crafted the PWFA regulations over a period of years with thoughtful input from thousands of stakeholders. This court’s sudden decision to rewrite those regulations upends workers’ and employers’ understanding of and reliance on settled precedent. A Better Balance is working around the clock to defend this law that we fought so hard to pass. We won’t stand by as these vital protections for women and all pregnant people are undermined.”

Shortly after taking office in January, President Donald Trump fired two Democratic members of the EEOC, including its previous chair, leaving the commission without the quorum required to make decisions like rescinding or revising regulations. Trump has nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany Panuccio to replace one of the removed commissioners. If the Senate approves her, the EEOC will regain its quorum.

In response to a request for comment on the ruling, an EEOC spokesperson pointed to a previous statement from current EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas that she opposes the abortion accommodation requirement and that once the commission regains its quorum she intends for the EEOC to reconsider parts of the rule she believes are unlawful.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty — which represented the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and three other Catholic organizations in their challenge to the rule — did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.