Judge blocks worker protections for abortion and fertility care for Catholic employers
More than 9,000 Catholic employers do not need to abide by federal regulations protecting workers who seek abortions and fertility treatments under a ruling issued this week by a federal judge in North Dakota.
Last year, the Catholic Benefits Association and the Bismarck Diocese sued the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying it issued regulations and guidelines that “ran roughshod” over their religious rights.
On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Traynor issued a permanent block on the regulations, finding the association and the diocese succeeded on the merits of their claim that the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect in 2023. The law requires covered employers make reasonable accommodations for workers' pregnancy or childbirth-related needs. In 2024, the EEOC issued the rule implementing the law and the harassment enforcement guidance.
The association and the diocese said, “The combined effect of EEOC’s pronouncements is that they require CBA Members, contrary to their Catholic faith, to accommodate their employees’ abortions and immoral fertility treatments, to use false pronouns when requested by transitioning employees, to abstain from expressing Catholic teaching regarding sexual issues, and to give employees of one sex access to private spaces reserved to those of the other sex.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judg...-120884316
More than 9,000 Catholic employers do not need to abide by federal regulations protecting workers who seek abortions and fertility treatments under a ruling issued this week by a federal judge in North Dakota.
Last year, the Catholic Benefits Association and the Bismarck Diocese sued the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying it issued regulations and guidelines that “ran roughshod” over their religious rights.
On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Traynor issued a permanent block on the regulations, finding the association and the diocese succeeded on the merits of their claim that the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect in 2023. The law requires covered employers make reasonable accommodations for workers' pregnancy or childbirth-related needs. In 2024, the EEOC issued the rule implementing the law and the harassment enforcement guidance.
The association and the diocese said, “The combined effect of EEOC’s pronouncements is that they require CBA Members, contrary to their Catholic faith, to accommodate their employees’ abortions and immoral fertility treatments, to use false pronouns when requested by transitioning employees, to abstain from expressing Catholic teaching regarding sexual issues, and to give employees of one sex access to private spaces reserved to those of the other sex.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judg...-120884316
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
