Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of 19 states in sending a letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) expressing opposition to a proposed rule regarding workplace abortion accommodations.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) into law, which protects pregnant workers and their babies by directing that women receive workplace accommodations for “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”
Now, as what Skrmetti called a “perverse plot twist,” members of the EEOC have proposed a new rule that would interpret the PWFA to force covered employers, including the State of Tennessee, to allocate resources to support workers’ decisions to terminate pregnancies.
TN AG Skrmetti, joined by 19 States, submitted a comment letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) opposing EEOC’s proposed rule to require employers to facilitate employee abortions.
Read more: https://t.co/xszkYwJkdd pic.twitter.com/VEb1jENXIL— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) October 11, 2023
In the comment letter, Skrmetti and the other states described the proposed rule as simply “hijacking the Act’s pro-pregnancy provisions to require employers to accommodate abortions.”
In addition, the coalition pointed out a “number of legal flaws” in the proposed rule, which would render it invalid.
“Among other flaws, Congress has never mandated employers to implement pro-abortion policies, and the PWFA’s protections for pregnancy plainly were not intended to promote such an agenda. Further, EEOC’s rule contradicts States’ duly enacted abortion prohibitions and undermines their commitment to protecting prenatal life at all stages of development,” Skrmetti explained.
The coalition urged the EEOC to abandon the proposed rule, saying the States are prepared to take legal action if necessary.
“We ask EEOC to abandon pursuit of an abortion-accommodation rule that would co opt the States whose citizens have rejected pro-abortion policies through the democratic process. Tennessee and the other cosigning States are prepared to pursue legal action should EEOC fail to heed its statutory, constitutional, and APA bounds,” the coalition concluded.
In a separate statement, Skremtti added, “Time and again, the courts have reminded the federal government that major policy questions should be decided by the people’s elected representatives and not by bureaucrats. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is an important piece of legislation that ensures women are not forced to choose between work and motherhood, but that law absolutely does not authorize the EEOC to impose pro-abortion mandates. If the EEOC continues on this path, we will sue to stop the agency from illegally coercing employers to facilitate abortions in violation of state law.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
