Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this year, eliminating what had been a constitutional right to abortion, most of the national conversation has been about the political fallout.

It’s clear that the decision prompted many more women to vote and, in many places, helped Democratic candidates in the Nov. 8 midterms. And, voters in several states rejected constitutional amendments that would have outlawed abortions or approved amendments to preserve them.

That debate obscured another crucial issue — fair treatment in the workplace for pregnant women. The 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act precluded employers from simply firing employees who became pregnant, but it did not require them to do anything to accommodate pregnant workers’ needs.

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has been trying for a decade to close the loophole that, in effect, enables employers who are so inclined to force out pregnant employees by declining to recognize their physical needs.

Last week, the Senate finally passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which Casey cosponsored with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the committee’s ranking minority member, and attached it to the $1.7 trillion appropriations bill.

The bill is modeled on the Americans with Disabilities Act. It requires employees to accommodate the physical needs of pregnant workers, or to prove that doing so would pose an undue burden to the business.

About 75% of pregnant women continue working through their pregnancies. The government should require workers to ensure their health and safety in the workplace, all the more so given the political focus on eliminating or reducing the number of abortions.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS