Lake Charles, LA –  A coalition representing more than 250,000 small businesses throughout the country submitted a friend of the court brief this week, arguing that access to reproductive healthcare is vital to the economic well-being of the entire business community, particularly small businesses. As women in the workplace face attacks that seek to deny them access to reproductive healthcare, the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other religious employers, continue to chip away at women’s reproductive freedoms by challenging the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), and that challenge should be denied. 

The brief was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lake Charles Division by the leading pro-democracy legal organization Democracy Forward on behalf of the Small Business Majority, Main Street Alliance, and American Sustainable Business Council. The coalition of small business leaders and experts have previously partnered on similar friend of the court briefs to the series of challenges to the PWFA by state Attorneys General. 

Below, please find statements from the partners in this effort. 

Rachel Shanklin, National Women’s Entrepreneurship Director, Small Business Majority 

“Women entrepreneurs have made it clear that the freedom to decide if and when to have children is critically important to their ability to start and grow a business. Small Business Majority’s research found that 92% of women business owners said access to reproductive healthcare is vital to their economic well-being and to the entire small business community. For these reasons, our courts must uphold the protections in the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.”

David Levine, Co-Founder and President, American Sustainable Business Council/Network

“Small businesses comprise 99.9% of all U.S. businesses, and women are half our workforce. We need policies that support women’s full participation in the workforce, including the ability of pregnant workers to protect their health during employment. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act fills previously existing gaps in our laws – gaps that were unjust, dangerous for women’s health, and detrimental to businesses’ productivity. These protective regulations provide much-needed guidance for small businesses to understand their obligations, eliminate confusion, and provide a blueprint for increasing worker retention and improving the health, well-being, and productivity of employees who are vital to their success. Businesses are responsible for ensuring their workers’ health and safety, including pregnant workers; pregnant workers can decide for themselves what that looks like.”

Richard Trent, Executive Director, Main Street Alliance 

“The majority of Main Street Alliance members are women, and many of those women were driven to start enterprises of their own because their previous employment lacked flexibility around family care. Our work with women owners has taught us that entrepreneurship increases the agency of women to make sound decisions for themselves and their families—and that employers and employees are entitled to protections in the workplace that uphold their dignity. Misguided efforts to overturn this landmark law should be rejected immediately.”

Skye Perryman, President and CEO, Democracy Forward 

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ensures that people who are pregnant do not have to choose between their jobs and their health. The rule protects workers who need abortion care and this lawsuit threatens real harm to businesses and their workers across America. The EEOC’s policy will keep qualified and valuable employees – especially women – in the workplace.  The policy gives vital regulatory clarity to businesses – which is especially important for small businesses. Democracy Forward will continue to work with small businesses that are the backbone of the US economy in courtrooms and communities across the country to protect businesses and their workers.”  

BACKGROUND

  • In December 2022, Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.  
  • Thereafter, the EEOC undertook to develop regulations to implement the PWFA, which it finalized on April 15 of this year. 
  • The suit is the latest in the slew of lawsuits filed since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade to further restrict access to reproductive health care.  
  • For more information about challenges to the PWFA, please visit Democracy Forward’s case page here. 

For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org. 

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