Biden plan to expand abortion fails when judge rules against EEOC
One of the maneuvers Joe Biden has used to try to expand the abortion industry in America – letting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission demand businesses allow for the destruction of the unborn – has failed so far.
A federal court has issued an injunction against the Biden agency enforcing a "rule" it created that demands compliance with the president's abortion promotion.
The ruling comes from U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph of Louisiana.
His order states, "The EEOC is preliminarily enjoined with respect to the above-listed parties from: (i) initiating any investigation into claims that a covered employer has failed to accommodate an elective abortion that is not necessary to treat a medical condition related to pregnancy; and (ii) issuing any Notice of Right to Sue with respect to the same."
A report at the Washington Stand called the decision "a religious liberty win."
The decision, it said, "blocked an attempt by the Biden administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to interpret the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in such a way that Catholic organizations would be compelled to pay for employees’ abortions in violation of their religious beliefs."
"No religious employer should ever be made to accommodate employees for obtaining abortions when facilitating an abortion contradicts the employer’s sincerely held religious beliefs. It’s good to see the court affirm that in this decision," Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, said in the report.
"Sadly, the Biden administration continues to expand abortion via any means possible — including through the EEOC’s overreaching regulation to enforce a bipartisan law written to help pregnant workers — without any regard for conscience protection or for religious freedom."
The fact is that abortion has been one of two primary goals of the Biden administration, the other being transgenderism.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and some other Catholic groups had sued when the EEOC demanded a rule change that would force "employers to knowingly accommodate abortions and impos[e] a speech code creating substantial liability on employers who express opposition to abortion and refuse to support it in their policies," the report said.
Several states also sued, charging the plan violated their rights, too.
The PWFA is a bipartisan law intended to help protect pregnant women in the workplace. However, the Biden administration insisted on re-interpreting it to include a demand for abortion.
Catholics, in fact, charged that Biden's agency "shoehorned a mandate that employers across the country knowingly support abortion into a statute explicitly designed to protect the health and safety of preborn babies and their mothers."
The court determined the EEOC "has exceeded its statutory authority to implement the PWFA and, in doing so, both unlawfully expropriated the authority of Congress and encroached upon the sovereignty of the States Plaintiffs."
The ruling cited a concern that has been raised over and over about the Biden rule: that he is "forcing religious employers to ‘choose between two untenable alternatives: either (1) violate Title VII and obey their convictions, or (2) obey Title VII and violate their convictions.'"
The Catholics pointed out that abortion is not treatment of a "medical condition" but instead is a procedure that destroys an unborn child.
The Biden administration change to the law adopted by Congress fails, the judge said.
"If Congress had intended to mandate that employers accommodate elective abortions under the PWFA, it would have spoken clearly when enacting the statute, particularly given the enormous social, religious, and political importance of the abortion issue in our nation at this time (and, indeed, over the past 50 years)."
The ruling said, "At its core, this is a textbook case of a federal administrative agency exceeding its statutory authority in a way that both usurps the role of Congress and violates authority vested in the states under the principles of federalism."
For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!