Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, you might notice a little smile on my face. Honestly, as I was walking over here to speak on the bill, I was reflecting on my own life as a father.

I have five children. When two of my children were little, my wife was away from the house, and I was to meet her somewhere. One needed their diaper changed, and then I had to feed the other. By the time I did that, the other diaper had to be changed. My wife called me, and she said: ``You can't get out of the house, can you?''

Mr. Speaker, pregnancy and motherhood, of course, bring joy and unique challenges and call from all of us a higher sense of duty.

My wife carried my children in their earliest formation, and I carried that burden and opportunity to give them life in other ways. But if we can see pregnancy as a part of community, a journey of life for our good, the good of all, and the good of our Nation, then we accept that it requires reasonable accommodation at work when someone is pregnant, when they are giving life to their child, or if they have necessarily hard conditions. It is only the right thing to do, especially for those who are suffering.

Now, as I have been listening to this debate, a concern has been raised about civil rights and religious organizations, considerations I am surprised that haven't been worked out before now. But let's keep working on that and pass this important bill.

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