A Better Balance has asked to intervene in a federal lawsuit to defend federal protections for pregnant and postpartum students in light of the new administration’s signals that it no longer intends to do so.
Public Justice, BraunHagey & Borden LLP, and Pillersdorf Law Offices represent A Better Balance, which has filed a motion to intervene in a case challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s 2024 Title IX regulations. The challenged regulations clarify and expand protections for pregnant and postpartum students across the country. These include, among others, explicit access to lactation breaks and private space to pump, and a clear right to other “reasonable modifications,” such as larger desks, permission to eat, drink, or use the restroom; adjusted exam dates; remote access to classes, and excused absences for prenatal care. The regulations also require that, when students disclose their pregnancy status, schools must give them information about their Title IX rights and the school’s Title IX Coordinator, who can help these students request and receive the support they need.
A group of states, led by Tennessee, filed this lawsuit in the Eastern District of Kentucky, Tennessee v. Carter, to challenge the 2024 Title IX regulations. The states did not argue that the rule’s provisions related to pregnancy are illegal, instead objecting to other parts of the regulation that protected LGBTQ+ students. But last month, at the states’ request, the district court vacated the full rule, including the unchallenged pregnancy protections, nationwide. Because the Trump administration’s public statements indicate it is unlikely to appeal, the advocates moved the court to intervene in the government’s place, appeal to the Sixth Circuit, and hopefully restore important rights.
Katherine Greenberg, Director of Strategic Litigation for A Better Balance, oversees the organization’s helpline, which fields calls from pregnant and parenting students facing discrimination.
Greenberg said, “The Title IX regulations contained robust, clear, and important protections for the pregnant and postpartum students across the country who call our helpline. These regulations made it easier for us to inform students about their rights and to assist them in getting access to the supports they need at school. Vacating the unchallenged portions of the Title IX regulations that protected pregnant students has already had a detrimental impact on our student callers, who often just want to get access to modest modifications so they can learn. We are in this fight because A Better Balance believes students should not have to choose between their pregnancies and their education.”
Alexandra Brodsky, senior attorney at Public Justice, said, “As we will argue on appeal, the district court was wrong to strike down the Title IX rule’s essential protections for pregnant and postpartum students when the plaintiff-states never argued those were illegal. But the states’ strategy demonstrates that their attack on LGBTQ+ students was never about protecting women and girls.”
Marissa Benavides, a partner at BraunHagey & Borden, stated, “This is one of many cases that we are seeing around the nation where it has become necessary to intervene because the government is not doing its job. We hope to vindicate these important protections for pregnant and postpartum students on appeal. There is no legal basis for getting rid of them.”
