Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging new federal rules entitling workers to time off and other accommodations for abortions, calling the rules an illegal interpretation of a 2022 federal law.
The lawsuit led by Tennessee and Arkansas comes since finalized federal regulations were published April 15 to provide guidance for employers and workers on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The language means workers can ask for time off to obtain an abortion and recover from the procedure.
The rules, which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted on a 3-2 vote along party lines, will go into effect June 18. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Arkansas argues the regulations go beyond the scope of the 2022 law that passed with bipartisan support.
Regardless of anything else, it’s a medical procedure, your employer shouldn’t be privy to private medical details just because they don’t agree with them. You should be able to get a doctors note that you’re having a procedure, will require time to heal and be done with it, in any reasonable world, but … here we are.
No one should get involved in a medical decision made with the consent of both an adult and their doctor and the only people who should get involved in a medical decision made by a doctor involving a minor is that minor’s parent(s) or guardian(s).
That applies to abortion, gender affirming care, euthanasia or anything other medical procedure.
If the doctor is committing malpractice, that is for the patient to decide. Otherwise, this is (in general) two consenting adults, one of them an expert, making a unanimous decision. The government, your employers, your relatives, your friends, your church, whoever- it’s none of their fucking business.
The only reason to require a doctor’a note is classism.
Keep in mind that the rich don’t need time off work, or legal abortions, as they just jet off to another country for a “vacation”. Abortions will always be accessible for the wealthy.
They were accessible before Roe too. They didn’t even have to leave the country. They just had to find the right doctor.
John Irving’s book (and the subsequent film based on it) The Cider House Rules deals with the subject.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.
A real who’s who of the top U.S. states /s
Really surprised that Mississippi isn’t on the list, though. They’re usually at least joint most awful at all times, after all…
The shithole south and the whacked west
The whacked west? None of those are west coast states.
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