17 states sue EEOC over new employer abortion accommodation rule

A coalition of Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over a new rule that requires employers to provide abortion accommodations under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

A coalition of Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over a new rule that requires employers to provide abortion accommodations under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The rule, finalized in mid-April, mandates that most employers offer “reasonable accommodations” to workers related to pregnancy or childbirth, including providing time off for an abortion. The EEOC said in the rule that it does not require employers to pay for an abortion or provide paid time off for the procedure. “Congress passed the bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to protect mothers-to-be and promote healthy pregnancies, and the EEOC’s attempt to rewrite that law into an abortion mandate is illegal,” Jonathan Skrmetti, attorney general of Tennessee, which is co-leading the coalition, said in a statement. “Yet in a new rule, unelected commissioners at the EEOC seek to hijack these new protections for pregnancies by requiring employers to accommodate elective abortions—something the Act clearly did not authorize,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. “The EEOC’s rule constitutes an unconstitutional federal overreach that infringes on existing state laws and exceeds the scope of the agency’s authority.” Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia are joining Tennessee in the lawsuit. The EEOC referred a request for comment to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond.