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Senate GOP Guts Pregnancy Accommodations Bill, A Holcomb Priority

File photo: Brandon Smith
/
IPB News

Senate Republicans gutted a bill Monday that would have required employers to reasonably accommodate pregnant employees’ needs.

The legislation is a priority of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s.

The bill would have required businesses with at least 15 workers to provide longer or more frequent breaks for pregnant women, for example. Or to provide seating or temporarily restructure a pregnant women’s job, to modify their work schedules or provide a lactation room.

But Sen. Victoria Spartz (R-Noblesville) doesn’t like that level of specificity in law.

“When we create this one-size-fits-all approach, who’s going to be hurt is the small businesses,” Spartz says.

Thirty-four Republicans voted to strip out those provisions and instead ask for a study committee on the topic.

Sen. Jean Breaux (D-Indianapolis)) accuses Republicans of waging war on pregnant women.

“Could that be why Indiana’s infant mortality rate is so high? Could that be why Indiana’s maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the nation?" Breaux says. "This is a common-sense bill.”

The House could restore those provisions, if the bill advances there.

Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.