Pro-Life Group Refuses to Comply With New Biden Rule Forcing It to Promote Abortions
A leading pro-life group tells LifeNews.com today that it refuses to follow a new Biden rule forcing employers to promote abortions.
In December 2022, Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a pro-life bill that aimed to make the workplace more accessible to pregnant women by requiring employers to provide accommodations to pregnant workers under The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This bill was implemented at the end of June 2023.
However, the Biden administration is manipulating the bill’s language to require that employers provide accommodations for abortion.
The PWFA requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship.” However, the bill does not define what is considered a “reasonable accommodation,” or what is considered a “related medical condition.”
Although the measure was meant to help and support pregnant women, Biden officials are manipulating it to promote abortion.
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As a result, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a new rule that would warp and twist the federal law to impose pro-abortion regulations on virtually every employer in the country, even those whose religious beliefs dictate that life begins at conception.
But Priests for Life refuses to comply.
Pursuant to this rule, Priests for Life is required to provide an “accommodation” for an employee who might seek an abortion similar to any “accommodation” it would provide for an employee who may need time off, for example, related to pregnancy or childbirth, the group informed LifeNews today.
National Director Frank Pavone commented, “Obviously, such a rule runs afoul of Priests for Life’s total dedication to protecting children in the womb from abortion. Similarly, it directly violates Priests for Life’s fundamental right to religious freedom protected by the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
“Priests for Life will not comply with this rule as it would compel the organization to violate its core religious beliefs. If the Department of Justice or any other governmental entity seeks to enforce this rule against us, Priests for Life will immediately resist by filing a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the enforcement action,” Pavone told LifeNews.
He added: “Make no mistake, Priests for Life will not comply with, and will strenuously resist, this latest effort by the Biden administration to force private citizens to accept abortion. The rule reflects a diabolical disregard for human life, as well as the tendency of Democrat leaders to use every vehicle of government to impose their immorality on American citizens.”
A leading pro-life legal group is fighting the measure in court.
“This rule is just the latest example of the Biden administration abusing its power to advance abortion,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake told LifeNews.com.
She said, “The new rule seeks to punish the speech of pro-life employers and restrict their hiring practices. The Biden administration and the EEOC don’t have the legal authority to smuggle this illegitimate rule into a law that was created to protect and support women and that had nothing to do with abortion.”
Here’s more on what the Biden administration is doing:
In the case of the PWFA, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was given rulemaking authority. In July, the rules were released, and they directly contradicted the intent of Congress. Not only was “reasonable accommodation” interpreted to include additional paid leave, but the EEOC included abortion in the definition of “related medical conditions.” The PWFA would now essentially require employers to provide medical leave for women to end the life of their child through an abortion.
Such rulemaking directly contradicts the intent of Congress and the pro-life advocacy groups who hoped the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would help mothers choose life.
The bill’s primary Democratic sponsor, Sen. Casey, assured pro-life organizations that the bill was “straightforward … [and would] allow pregnant workers to request reasonable accommodations so that they can continue working safely during pregnancy and upon returning to work after childbirth.”
The bill’s primary Republican sponsor, Sen. Cassidy, echoed those assurances and strongly opposed the EEOC’s actions saying, “These regulations completely disregard legislative intent and attempt to rewrite the law by regulation…The decision to disregard the legislative process to inject a political abortion agenda is illegal and deeply concerning.”
These statements alone should unequivocally eliminate abortion from being considered a pregnancy related medical condition.
It is clear that the intent of Congress in passing the PWFA was to help pregnant mothers have healthy pregnancies and babies, not to expand access to abortion.
Some 17 states have already taken legal action to protect employers in their states and stop the Biden pro-abortion rule.
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