Women Are Miscarrying After Employers Deny Their Light Duty Requests Even With Notes From Doctors
And it's completely legal for the employers to do so. Under federal law, companies don’t necessarily have to adjust pregnant women’s jobs, even when lighter work is available and their doctors send letters urging a reprieve. The New York Times investigates the issue that's affected women across the country. News on women's health also focuses on fertility rates, abortion, and ovarian cancer.
The New York Times:
Miscarrying At Work: The Physical Toll Of Pregnancy Discrimination
If you are a Verizon customer on the East Coast, odds are good that your cellphone or tablet arrived by way of a beige, windowless warehouse near Tennessee’s border with Mississippi. ... Three other women in the warehouse also had miscarriages in 2014, when it was owned by a contractor called New Breed Logistics. Later that year, a larger company, XPO Logistics, bought New Breed and the warehouse. The problems continued. Another woman miscarried there this summer. Then, in August, Ceeadria Walker did, too. The women had all asked for light duty. Three said they brought in doctors’ notes recommending less taxing workloads and shorter shifts. They said supervisors disregarded the letters.(Silver-Greenberg and Kitroeff, 10/21)
The Washington Post:
As U.S. Fertility Rates Collapse, Finger-Pointing And Blame Follow
As 2017 drew to a close, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) urged Americans to have more children. To keep the country great, he said, we’re “going to need more people.” “I did my part,” the father of three declared. Ryan’s remarks drew some eye rolls at the time, but as new data about the country’s collapsing fertility rates has emerged, concern has deepened over what’s causing the changes, whether it constitutes a crisis that will fundamentally change the demographic trajectory of the country — and what should be done about it. (Cha, 10/19)
NPR:
Grassroots Battles Continue Over Missouri Planned Parenthood Site
When Angela Huntington arrived at work on a Wednesday morning in early October, she had to do something she dreaded: turn patients away. Huntington is the manager at the Columbia Health Center in Columbia, Mo., a Planned Parenthood site that recently had to halt its abortion services in the midst of a highly publicized legal fight in the state. (Gordon, 10/19)
WBUR:
Report: Women Everywhere Don't Know Enough About Ovarian Cancer
A new study of women with ovarian cancer shows that ignorance about the condition is common among patients in all 44 countries surveyed. And that ignorance has a cost. The disease is more treatable, even potentially curable, in its early stages. (Silberner, 10/21)
