
The passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) on Dec. 23, 2022, marked a historic civil rights victory more than a decade in the making.
The core principle behind this landmark legislation is simple, as I argued in The New York Times over a decade ago—an op-ed which ultimately led to the bill’s introduction: No woman in this country should have to choose between her job and a healthy pregnancy.
(This essay is a part of Ms. and A Better Balance’s Women & Democracy installment, all about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—a groundbreaking civil rights law ensuring pregnant and postpartum workers have the right to reasonable workplace accommodations. Bipartisan, pro-family and boldly feminist, the PWFA is both a lesson in democracy and a battleground for its defense against antidemocratic attacks.)