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May 23, 2023
On May 17, 2023, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation amending the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (Act) to prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s decision to end a pregnancy.
In general, the Act prohibits an employer from treating an individual affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition differently from another individual who is not so affected.
Currently, the Act excludes from protected medical conditions “a nontherapeutic abortion not intended to save the life of the mother.” The amendment removes this exception. The amendment also adds “termination of a pregnancy” to the definition of “sex.”
These changes bring the Act in line with the amendment passed in November 2022 to the Michigan Constitution regarding reproductive health, which addresses an individual’s freedom to have a pregnancy, to end a pregnancy through abortion, and to access reproductive health care and contraception.
The amended Act becomes effective on March 31, 2024.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Michigan or Pennsylvania, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
