As astonishing as the fact may seem, women continue to suffer from pregnancy discrimination even in today’s world. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that 31,000 pregnancy discrimination charges were filed between 2011 and 2015. Even worse, this number only includes the reported cases—there are certainly other women who do not file charges or enter into a settlement agreement with the employer.
Under the current administration, Republicans favor removing pregnancy coverage from “essential health benefits,” arguing that men cannot get pregnant and therefore should not pay for the cost of delivering a baby. Contrary to that belief, though, if men pay for insurance plans that cover maternity care, costs would decrease for everyone.
Getting rid of insurance policies that require maternity care would allow for further pregnancy-based discrimination and would dramatically increase the insurance prices for women. Even with legislature protecting women against discrimination, this is a difficult issue which many women are facing. To learn more about the facts surrounding pregnancy-based discrimination, take a look at this article by sexual harassment attorney Tom Spiggle, founder of the Spiggle Law Firm.
