DeLauro Floor Remarks in Support of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Chair Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in support of H.R. 2694, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. A video of DeLauro's remarks can be found here.
I rise in support of the bill. I would like to submit for the record this letter from the National Partnership For Women and Families: a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization committed to improving the lives of women and families by achieving equity for all women.
The bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is vital for women like Regina Scates, a firefighter in Connecticut. She was placed on unrequested, unpaid leave when she got pregnant, even though she was still capable of performing light-duty work. She was left to ask, quote, "how am I going to be able to feed my family."
Today, 88% of first-time mothers work in the third trimester. Yet, an estimated 250,000 requests for reasonable accommodations go unheard or unapproved. And, women of color are disproportionately impacted being overrepresented in low-wage jobs, where accommodations during pregnancy are not often provided: health aides, food service workers.
So, we seek to build on the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the first type of social policy ever to be enacted into law to provide protection to working mothers. And, we must. Decisions from the Supreme Court have made it exceeding difficulty for women to get reasonable accommodations under current law, even when the adjustments could be as small as a chair, and the stakes could be as enormous as a miscarriage or preterm birth.
Let us protect working women and pregnant women with the bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act, it establishes a clear cut right to reasonable accommodations, for all public sector employees and all private sector employees at companies with more than 15 workers.
This is not just an economic question, but a moral one. Like many of you, I was horrified by reports that doctors at ICE detention centers performed hysterectomies on women without their consent. It is unimaginable. It is inhumane and diminishes, dehumanizes, and disrespects women.
To all who preach a culture of life, to all who champion the dignity of work, I say, then let us seize the opportunity before us to protect life, to respect women, to protect pregnant women at work — and to do so with the strength, not of just words, but of law. Let us pass this bipartisan bill.