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WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in leading 12 of their Democratic Senate colleagues in pressing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Andrea Lucas on the Commission’s efforts to weaken a rule affirming employment protections for workers undergoing fertility treatments, including in-vitro fertilization (IVF). By law, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act(PWFA) requires employers to grant employees reasonable accommodations and in 2024, the EEOC set forth PWFA regulations explicitly affirming that these protections apply to workers undergoing IVF treatments. After President Trump appointed Lucas as Acting Chair, she announced the EEOC would be “reconsidering” the PWFA regulations to cut those workers out.
“(Removing workers undergoing IVF from the rule would) mak(e) it more likely that employers could deny accommodations to workers undergoing fertility treatment—or force them to work in conditions that could undermine their health or their treatment’s success. We write to request that you abandon your efforts to weaken this rule,” wrote the lawmakers.
Fertility treatments are intensive medical processes that have serious impacts on women’s lives. IVF involves several daily needle injections, which can cause side effects like nausea, vomiting, bloating and fatigue. The fertility procedures themselves do not allow for flexible scheduling and can require intravenous sedation.
During his 2024 campaign, President Trump repeatedly claimed he was a supporter of fertility treatment, calling himself the “father of IVF” and even going as far as to promise that he would make fertilization treatments free. Yet, President Trump’s Executive Order aiming to expand access to IVF, the implementation of which the Senators describe as “weak,” “fail(s) to address the larger expense of IVF cycles.” In particular, President Trump’s attempt to get drug manufacturers to lower prices for IVF drugs only applies to a “narrow subset of drugs within the broader IVF regimen,” leaving patients on the hook for the costs of other medications used, embryo storage and embryo transfers.
The Senators asked Chair Lucas to provide clarity on her attacks on workers undergoing fertility treatments by May 13, 2026.
In addition to Duckworth, Warren and Schumer, the letter was co-signed by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Tina Smith (D-MN).
The full text of the Senators’ letter is available on the Senator’s website.
