Federal judge: Catholic employers don’t have to provide abortion accommodations

A federal judge in North Dakota ruled this week that Catholic employers do not need to provide abortion accommodations as outlined in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).

Under the Biden administration, the EEOC expanded the PWFA to stipulate that employers have to offer “reasonable accommodations,” including time off, for women to get abortions. According to OSV News, the provision would have also required employers to accommodate  “IVF or pregnancy surrogacy, to eliminate single-sex spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms, and allow employees to adopt preferred pronouns.”

These requirements were challenged in a lawsuit by the Catholic Benefits Association and the Diocese of Bismarck on the basis that they violated their religious freedom. The Catholic Benefits Association represents 87 Catholic dioceses in the United States, along with 1,400 other Catholic organizations.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor’s April 15 ruling makes permanent a preliminary injunction he placed on the provision in September 2024.

READ: Catholic medical professionals sue to overturn Biden abortion mandate

“The facts and evidence in this case have not changed since the preliminary injunction was issued,” Traynor wrote in his ruling. “EEOC has not met the burden of proving a compelling interest. … The Court adopts its previous reasoning and finds that CBA succeeds on the merits of its claim that the Act violates their rights under RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act).”

Attorney for the plaintiffs Martin Nussbaum praised the ruling.

“One of the things that we’ve seen is an emerging practice on behalf of some of the federal administrations — we also see this in certain states — a desire not only to mandate immoral benefits but to impose speech codes that would be contrary to Catholic values,” Nussbaum said. “But the speech codes go beyond pronouns to even speaking about what Catholic teaching is, and we’re just grateful to this court for protecting the freedom of speech of Catholic organizations as well.”

Bishop David D. Kagan, of Bismarck added, “The Court has upheld our religious freedom rights and that is all we ever wanted.”