On May 22, 2024, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed its first lawsuit in 45 years. The USCCB, along with the Catholic University of America (CUA) and two Catholic dioceses, sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over its final rule implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).
The PWFA filled a gap in employment law: It requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” for the “known limitations” related to an employee’s “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” unless it poses an “undue hardship” on the employer’s business. The “pro-mother, pro-baby” Act passed with bipartisan support and the USCCB’s blessing.
Congress directed the EEOC to issue a rule implementing the act. However, the EEOC’s PWFA rule, which goes into effect on June 18, turned the act on its head. The EEOC broadly defined “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” to include abortion and other nonmedical conditions such as the use of contraception and fertility treatments, including IVF. Under the PFWA rule, employers are mandated to accommodate their employees’ abortions, contraception use, and fertility treatments. The USCCB’s “Annual Report on the State of Religious Liberty in the United States,” published in January, identified the EEOC’s PWFA rule as one of the top five “largest threats to religious liberty in 2024.”
