More than 9,000 Catholic employers do not need to abide by federal regulations requiring accommodations for workers who seek abortions and fertility treatments, according to a ruling issued this week by a federal judge in North Dakota.
The Catholic Benefits Association and the Bismarck Diocese filed a lawsuit last year challenging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s regulations on implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnancy and childbirth-related needs. The EEOC interpreted the statute to include abortion and fertility treatments as among those needs, which the Catholic groups argued violated their religious rights.
The Catholic groups also challenged separate EEOC guidelines for enforcing anti-harassment laws, which the agency updated last year to specify that workers cannot be harassed over their gender-identity or for seeking or contemplating having abortions.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor later granted a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the EEOC from enforcing both its final rule for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the harassment guidelines against the Catholic employers. On Tuesday, Traynor made the injunction permanent, saying the facts and evidence had not changed.
Last year, he wrote: “It is a precarious time for people of religious faith in America. It has been described as a post-Christian age. One indication of this dire assessment may be the repeated illegal and unconstitutional administrative actions against one of the founding principles of our country, the free exercise of religion.”
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed with widespread bipartisan support in December 2022, and it had the support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But controversy ensued when the EEOC adopted an expansive view of conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth that required accommodations, including for abortion, fertility treatment and birth control. While the rule includes an exemption for religious employers, it says determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis.
