Biden admin hijacks pregnant-workers law to impose illegal abortion mandate
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake regarding proposed regulations the Biden administration announced Monday for implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s proposed rule hijacks the bipartisan law, which does not address abortion, to impose an abortion mandate on virtually every employer in the country, even those whose religious beliefs dictate that life begins at conception:
“Congress sought to help pregnant workers, not force employers to facilitate abortions. The Biden administration is hijacking a bipartisan law that doesn’t even mention abortion to forcibly require every employer in America to provide ‘reasonable accommodations’ for their workers’ elective abortions. The administration’s unlawful proposal violates state laws protecting the unborn and employers’ pro-life and religious beliefs. The administration doesn’t have the legal authority to smuggle an abortion mandate into a transformational pro-life, pro-woman law. Alliance Defending Freedom stands ready to continue defending unborn lives and to oppose this egregious federal overreach.”
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires every employer in America to “reasonably accommodate” a worker’s “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.” The administration is now proposing that “related medical conditions” include “termination of pregnancy, including via . . . abortion.” This new mandate would require employers with more than 15 employees to create “reasonable accommodations” for their workers’ abortions, even if doing so violates their pro-life or religious beliefs.
The proposed rule will be formally published Friday, kicking off a 60-day period for pro-life and religious Americans to submit public comments to the administration.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Julie Marie Blake
Julie Marie Blake serves as senior counsel for regulatory litigation at Alliance Defending Freedom. Over the last decade, she has been on the front lines of high-profile, precedent-setting cases challenging federal overreach in courts across the country. Blake served as deputy solicitor general for the state of Missouri from 2017 to 2020 and as assistant solicitor general for the state of West Virginia from 2013 to 2017. In these roles, she argued 26 federal and state appeals, including before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Before entering government service in 2013, Blake was a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.L.P., where she served as volunteer amicus counsel in several ADF cases, including Town of Greece v. Galloway. Following law school, she served as a law clerk for Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2009. She received her B.A. in Politics and Theology & Religious Studies phi beta kappa from the Catholic University of America in 2006. She is a 2007 Blackstone Fellow. Blake is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and in many federal district and appellate courts.