Federal court on Thursday overturned a lower court decision, bringing new life to cases filed by Tennessee and 16 other states, and challenged the protection of states and federal workers seeking abortion.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, holds that it is positioned to challenge the Pregnant Workers’ Equity Act, enacted by the Congress in 2022 and enacted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). I did.

The Act provides that employers must create reasonable accommodations to employees “known restrictions relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” including the end of pregnancy due to abortion. Masu.

In September, a US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas ruled that Tennessee and other plaintiffs lacked a position to sue for reasons that they had not been injured or failed to establish a levie.

New rules protect pregnant workers, but the red state pleads over abortion provisions

According to a Thursday ruling written by Judge Stephen Coroton, the 8th Circuit found that the plaintiffs are standing and do not control the merits of the case. It wouldn’t.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skulmetti and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin led the state coalition (all restrict access to abortion) that raised the action in April.

“The Worker Equity Act in Pregnancy is a wise, bipartisan law to help pregnant women. The Biden-era EEOC, who seeks to turn good laws into ideological weapons, will enforce a wide range of selective abortion accommodations. is illegal,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “The EEOC’s illegal regulations undermine the constitutional authority of the elected representatives of people and are based on the court’s decision to proceed with the case.”

Advocates of the law questioned the court’s decision.

“The decision by the eight circuits to allow EEOC regulations to challenge the fairness laws of pregnant workers is to move on to proceed despite all existing legal precedents,” the National said Inimai Chettiar, president of nonprofit Better Balance. A legal advocacy organization dedicated to justice for working families. The organization was part of a coalition of groups that signed Amicas briefs in support of the EEOC.

Tennessee has one of the strictest abortion policies in the United States, banning all procedures except narrow exceptions, including ectopic pregnancy.

EEOC Pregnancy Workers’ Equality Act