The judge ruled that federal agencies cannot enforce abortion laws in Louisiana and Mississippi

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NEW YORK (AP) – A federal judge on Monday granted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as employers in two Southern states, temporary relief from complying with federal rules requiring them to provide rest periods and other workplace accommodations. accommodation for abortion.

Judge David Joseph issued a preliminary injunction in two joint lawsuits, one brought by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the other brought by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a Catholic university and two Catholic dioceses.

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The rule challenges a lawsuit issued in April by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which states that abortion is among pregnancy-related conditions covered by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which was enacted in December 2022 and took effect last year.

The EEOC rules took effect Tuesday.

Joseph, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, enjoined the EEOC from implementing its abortion provision against Catholic plaintiffs and employers located in Louisiana and Mississippi for the duration of the lawsuit.

The ruling comes just days after a federal judge in Arkansas dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by 17 states led by Arkansas and Tennessee. Eastern District of Arkansas U.S. District Judge DP Marshall, Jr., who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, ruled that the states did not have standing to bring the lawsuit.

“The District Court applied a common-sense interpretation of the plain words of the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in an emailed statement.

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The Louisiana ruling is a partial victory for the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, which sought a broader emergency injunction that would stop all EEOC rules from applying nationwide. The request has surprised some civil rights and women’s advocacy groups, who have warned that the EEOC’s rules are essential to the law’s successful implementation.

In an amicus brief, the American Civil Liberties Union and more than 20 labor and women’s advocacy groups cited dozens of cases of pregnant workers whose employers continued to refuse accommodations, and said the EEOC’s rules provide clarity for resolving disputes.

But Rachel Shanklin, the National Women’s Entrepreneurship Director for the Small Business Majority, said Monday’s limited decision will have a big impact.

“We are deeply disappointed with the Louisiana court’s decision which will make it more difficult – at least temporarily – for women in the area to access abortion care,” she said in a statement. “Our research has consistently found that women entrepreneurs say that the ability to choose and when to start a family plays an important role in their ability to advance their careers and start small businesses.”

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Dina Bakst, founder and president of legal advocacy group A Better Balance, which led a decade-long legal campaign for the law, condemned the decision in Louisiana, saying it “ignores decades of legal precedent” interpreting pregnancy-related medical conditions. including abortion.

However, he emphasized that “it is important for pregnant and postpartum workers to understand that this decision does not mean that their rights under the PWFA have been taken away,” given the scope of the injunction.

The Fairness for Pregnant Workers Act was passed with widespread bipartisan support in December 2022 after a decade of campaigning by women’s rights advocates, who saw it as a victory for wage workers who are routinely denied accommodations for everything from rest periods to medical appointments to the ability to sit or stand at project.

But many Republican lawmakers, including Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who sponsored the bill, were outraged when the EEOC said the law included abortion. Both Republican commissioners on the five-member EEOC voted against the rule.

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In its ruling, the EEOC said abortions fit its interpretation of pregnancy-related anti-discrimination laws, as well as numerous court decisions that support that interpretation.

The regulations also specify that the rules do not require employers to provide health care coverage for abortions and that the most likely accommodation request is time off to perform the procedure or recover from complications. The EEOC says any situation in which a request for accommodation potentially conflicts with state law will be examined on a “case-by-case” basis.

In the lawsuit, the attorney general said that “the EEOC is forcing States like Louisiana and Mississippi to go against State law and effectively facilitate abortion.”

Mississippi bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Louisiana has an almost total ban on abortion, with exceptions when there is a risk of death or disability to the patient in continuing the pregnancy and in cases where the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

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In the lawsuit, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it had supported the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act because lawmakers had emphasized its non-controversial nature, with some explicitly stating that it would not require leave for elective abortions.

Laura Wolk Slavis, an attorney representing Catholic groups, said “the EEOC is hijacking bipartisan protections for expectant mothers and their babies, imposing a national abortion accommodation mandate.” He said the decision was an “important step” in restoring the law “to its intended purpose.”

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