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** OCA Denounces New Rule Allowing Discrimination Against Pregnant People
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23 January 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Maddie Schumacher | Policy Associate
202.223.5500 | [email protected]

Washington, DC - On January 23, the U.S. State Department issued a new rule targeting people who are pregnant or could be perceived as pregnant trying to visit the United States, making it harder for them to obtain visitor visas and board flights to the U.S. This rule follows an incident in which a Hong Kong airline forced a woman to take a pregnancy test before she was allowed to fly to Saipan, a commonwealth of the United States. OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates denounces the State Department’s rule and the precedent it sets for gender- and race-based discrimination.

The State Department’s new rule allows consular officers to deny visas to travelers they believe could give birth while in the U.S. It allows various factors like age, sex, gender, and marital status to inform judgements against visa applicants. Further, the rule overwhelmingly impacts women of color and travelers from non-white countries, as most European nationals do not need visas to visit the U.S. at all.

“The assaults on women’s rights and dignity needs to stop,” says OCA Executive Director Rita Pin Ahrens, “Shame on those who think it is ever acceptable, in this day and age, to ask a woman if she is pregnant, let alone try to bar her from visiting family and friends in the United States because she may or may not be expecting. As a country, we need to stand together to empower women and mothers, not demean them at every step, as this Administration seems intent on doing.”

View this statement online here. ([link removed])
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OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).

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