Trump DOJ Signals Pullback on Defense of Pregnant Worker Rule

The Justice Department has signaled plans to withdraw from defending the EEOC’s pregnant worker accommodation rule, which was challenged by Catholic groups opposed to provisions related to abortion and other medical services that violate their religious tenets.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission isn’t “in a position to provide substantive argument” on pending summary judgment motions in the consolidated cases, the DOJ said in a Monday filing to the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. The motion also sought an unopposed stay of a Wednesday status conference in the lawsuits against the EEOC’s final rule under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act..

The request marks the Trump administration’s latest move to shift away from defending or enforcing Biden-era policies.

Monday’s filing cited EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas’s Feb. 20 position statement outlining her intention for the commission to “reconsider portions of the Final Rule that she believes are unsupported by law.” The commission can’t hold a vote yet due to its lack of quorum after Trump fired two Democratic commissioners.

Lucas voted against the rule last April. Her updated position statement reiterates her concern that the final rule “broadens the scope of the statute in ways that cannot be reconciled with the text.”

The US Conference of Bishops’ raised similar arguments in challenging the rule, specifically over its inclusion of abortion as a related medical condition to pregnancy that employers must reasonably accommodate.

The US Conference of Bishops didn’t oppose the EEOC’s motion and said it agreed that the court can “resolve the pending dispositive motions without oral argument.” The Bishops, though, said there should be a final review by the court and noted that “it is entirely speculative as to when, if, and how the substance of the Final Rule may change.”

Judge David C. Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana in June prevented the EEOC from enforcing the abortion accommodation provision against the US Conference of Bishops as well as the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It was one of several conflicting district court rulings in cases challenging the EEOC’s rule.

The federal government unsuccessfully requested a stay on court deadlines in a separate case filed by a religious group in Missouri federal court. That request cited changes to the administration and commission that “may have implications for this litigation,” but was submitted before Lucas released her position statement.

The case is US Conference of Catholic Bishops v. EEOC, W.D. La., No. 2:24-cv-00691, motion 2/24/25.