The United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is poised to decide whether to invalidate a federal law protecting the rights of pregnant workers nationwide and affecting the future of mothers and women in the American workforce.
Today, A Better Balance and March of Dimes submitted an amicus (‘friend of the court’) brief in the matter of Texas v. Bondi, arguing that the court should uphold the constitutionality of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires employers to provide basic accommodations to pregnant workers to protect their health and their pregnancies.
In February 2024, a federal court in Texas struck down the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act as applied to Texas state government employees, baselessly claiming that its passage exceeded Congress’s constitutional authority. In August 2025, a 3-judge panel of the 5th Circuit overturned that ruling, determining that the law was passed constitutionally and keeping the law intact. But in January 2026, the entire 5th Circuit granted a petition to rehear the case en banc and erased its previous order upholding the law—indicating that a majority of the full court is open to revisiting the constitutionality of the law and putting the health and livelihood of pregnant workers and their families nationwide in jeopardy.
Together, A Better Balance and March of Dimes make the case before the court that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is an essential protection for the health and wellbeing of pregnant workers and their babies, which Congress was well within its constitutional authority to enact. Being able to access pregnancy accommodations on the job—such as access to water breaks, light-duty lifting, or chairs to sit on—plays a critical role in protecting pregnancies and reducing the risk of devastating outcomes like miscarriage. The law has already been an unparalleled success: a 2025 study found that the law reduced miscarriages nationwide by an estimated 9.6%. Eradicating these protections will put women in the position of needing to choose between protecting their pregnancies and their paychecks.
Reversing its earlier ruling would not only impact the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—it would also set a precedent that could unleash a host of other consequences that have an array of stakeholders alarmed, including Constitutional scholars, national security experts, and veterans’ groups.
“The attacks on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act’s constitutionality by the State of Texas are part of broader attacks on women’s rights, and do not have a legal basis. Rehearing this case needlessly puts hard-won rights that pregnant workers rely on on the chopping block. The 5th Circuit got it right the first time, and we urge the court to maintain its original decision,” said Inimai Chettiar, President of A Better Balance.
“Before the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), pregnant workers were routinely denied medically necessary accommodations, forcing many to choose between their health and their jobs with the risk of devastating consequences, including preeclampsia, preterm birth, and miscarriage. Rehearing this case needlessly threatens to roll back protections that safeguard pregnant workers’ lives and livelihoods. We urge the Fifth Circuit to uphold its prior decision and preserve the PWFA’s critical protections for pregnant workers nationwide,” said March of Dimes President and CEO Cindy Rahman.