Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Abortion Accommodations Mandate has been Vacated 

August 2025 

Daniel Finnegan, Compliance Specialist, Benefits Compliance 

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) became effective on June 27, 2023, for the first time requiring employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” for a qualifying employee’s or job applicant’s known and specific limitations related to, or arising out of, pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, unless such an accommodation constitutes an “undue hardship” on the employer’s business operations. Thereafter, on April 19, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued a final rule clarifying and implementing the PWFA. The EEOC’s April 2024 Final Rule was almost immediately challenged in federal court. 

In particular, on May 13, 2024, a civil lawsuit was filed by the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, along with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic University, and two Catholic dioceses, alleging that the EEOC’s inclusion of “abortion” as a “related medical condition” for pregnancy and childbirth (as defined under the EEOC’s Final Rule implemeting the PWFA), was both improper and beyond the EEOC’s scope of authority.  
 
In June 2024, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction pausing enforcement of the Final Rule’s “abortion accommodation mandate” as it applied to certain employers in Louisiana and Mississippi. Following, on May 21, 2025, the Court effectively vacated portions of the EEOC’s Final Rule which mandated employer accommodation of elective abortion for purposes of the PWFA’s accommodation requirements.  

Employer Action Items 

• Review leave & accommodation policies & practices: Employers should review their leave and accommodation-related policies and practices in light of the Court’s recent vacating of certain EEOC Final Rule elements, as related to workplace accommodations related to elective abortions.  

• Take note of continuing PWFA related requirements: Note that the entirety of the EEOC’s Final Rule was not vacated by the District Court; rather, only the provisions of the Final Rule related to elective abortion were vacated. Accordingly, employers should continue to adhere to the PWFA requirement for workplace accommodation relative to pregnancy and birth, otherwise.  

• Stay informed and monitor developments with the PWFA: While it is unlikely the current chair of the EEOC, Andrea Lucas, will revisit or attempt to revise the PWFA’s elective abortion related accommodation requirements, keep an eye out for pregnancy related rulemaking from the second Trump Administration, as they currently advocate substantial and significant public policy amendment in this arena.   

Summary 

The PWFA is a federal law that generally requires pregnancy-related workplace accommodations. However, the PWFA does not replace federal, state, or local laws or statutes that are more protective of workers affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. The EEOC’s PWFA Final Rule offers clarifications and specificity as to defining and applying: (1) covered workers; (2) covered employers; (3) circumstances necessitating accommodation; (4) terms of accommodation; (5) receiving and responding to worker specific accommodation requests; (6) assessing eligibility for worksite accommodation as to underlying medical conditions; and (7) enforcement related remedies related to an employer’s failure to adhere to the provision of the Final Rule. The Final Rule also detailed the employer’s “undue hardship” defenses to PWFA-related accommodation requests.  

As stated by the EEOF in the PWFA Final Rule, “…having… an abortion constitutes an example of pregnancy, childbirth, or [a] related medical condition.” Consequently, inclusion of this rather broad and inclusive language within the text of the Final Rule likely led to the judicial extermination of these important rights. This is because employers were required to provide employees with reasonable accommodations for both elective abortion services and medically necessary abortions, without regard to standards of necessity and/or voluntariness. As such, the treatment of medical conditions related to pregnancy under the PWFA was deemed to be ambiguous and too expansive for the District Court’s liking.  

The plaintiffs in this case asserted that requiring or expanding abortion accommodation under the final rule violated the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and the Constitution; generally, by exceeding the scope of Congressional authority, and separately, as an unauthorized expansion of the actual legislative and regulatory scope of the PWFA (as enacted). Following an oral argument on June 17, 2024, the Court granted in part the Plaintiffs’ Motions for Preliminary Injunction, thereby effectively terminating the EEOC’s opportunity for enforcement related activities related to the Final Rule’s elective abortion workplace accommodation requirement.   

Following, on May 21, 2025, the District Court granted the Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and formally vacated the portion of the final rule requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodate for elective abortions. The Courts final order largely tracks the findings of the preliminary injunction, noting that the Final Rule, “…exceeds the EEOC’s statutory authority under basic principles of statutory construction.” Therein also noting that any judicial analysis of the Final Rule must begin with the presumption that the Congressional election to avoid incorporating specific references to abortion in the final legislation was illustrative of a Congressional election to exclude elective abortion from the inventory of pregnancy related conditions for which the PFWA intended coverage. Although this argument is relatively circular by design, considering the universe of provisions that were specifically incorporated within the language of the Final Rule, the EEOC has nevertheless elected to avoid an appeal of the judicial order at this time.  

 This ruling generally means that employers are not required to adhere to the PWFA’s accommodation requirements as to elective abortion procedures, planning, performance, and/or recovery.  Importantly, the Court’s order noted that terminations of pregnancy or abortions stemming from the underlying treatment of medical conditions related to pregnancy are not affected by the ruling and that employers must continue to provide accommodation for such terminations and/or medically necessary abortions, to the full extent mandated, consistent with the requirements of the EEOC’s PWFA-related Final Rulemaking  

The BRCC will continue to monitor this issue and report any subsequent regulatory or legal developments.  

Additional Information and Resources 

• Pregnant Workers Fairness Act 

• Implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act 

• What you should know about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act 

• Summary of Key Provisions of EEOC’s Final Rule to Implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act 
• Judge David C. Joseph’s Memorandum Order