Today, the final rule to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was published and will go into effect in 60 days. Dr. Jamila Perritt, ob/gyn in DC and President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health responds:
“After years of tireless advocacy, I am thrilled that pregnant workers across the country will soon have reasonable protections for the basic resources, time, and simple accommodations to ensure that they can have a safe and healthy pregnancy while getting their jobs done.
Pregnant people are worthy of the basic protections and accommodations they need to stay safe, stay healthy, and provide for their families.
“Our country has a long history of discriminating against pregnant people, no matter if they continue their pregnancy or not — from abortion stigma to silence around the experience of miscarriage to failure to provide resources to birthing people and parents. While pregnancy is a normal and natural phenomenon, the attacks on pregnant people could not be further from normal.
“Pregnant people are worthy of the basic protections and accommodations they need to stay safe, stay healthy, and provide for their families. The EEOC’s rule is a critical step in the right direction to achieve that goal.”