Opinion ID: 524680
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did Consideration of Pregnancy Constitute Sex Discrimination on its Face?

Text: 16 The Supreme Court has had difficulty finding unlawful gender discrimination when the basis for disparate treatment is pregnancy. It has justified explicit gender discrimination because only women can become pregnant. See Michael M. v. Superior Court, 450 U.S. 464, 470, 101 S.Ct. 1200, 1204, 67 L.Ed.2d 437 (1981) (upholding a state statute that punished only males for statutory rape by finding that the statute advanced a reasonable state interest: limiting illegitimate teenage pregnancies). However, it has not necessarily treated pregnancy as defining a gender-based classification under the Equal Protection Clause. 17 In Geduldig v. Aiello, 417 U.S. 484, 94 S.Ct. 2485, 41 L.Ed.2d 256 (1974), the Court considered an equal protection challenge to a state disability insurance system that excluded pregnancy from coverage. It held that the exclusion did not constitute discrimination under equal protection analysis and found that the state had a rational reason for excluding pregnancy. Id. at 494-97, 94 S.Ct. at 2490-92. Dismissing the issue of gender discrimination in a footnote, it said: 18 While it is true that only women can become pregnant, it does not follow that every legislative classification concerning pregnancy is a sex-based classification.... Normal pregnancy is an objectively identifiable physical condition with unique characteristics. Absent a showing that distinctions involving pregnancy are mere pretexts designed to effect an invidious discrimination against the members of one sex or the other, lawmakers are constitutionally free to include or exclude pregnancy from the coverage of legislation such as this on any reasonable basis, just as with respect to any other physical condition. 19 Id. at 496-97 n. 20, 94 S.Ct. at 2492 n. 20 (citations omitted and emphasis added). 20 The Court extended this analysis to a similar case under Title VII. See General Elec. Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125, 97 S.Ct. 401, 50 L.Ed.2d 343 (1976). In construing Title VII, it denied relief to female employees whose disability plans did not include pregnancy by finding that the exclusion of pregnancy from coverage under the state plan was not itself discrimination based on sex. Id. at 135, 97 S.Ct. at 407. 21 In Nashville Gas Co. v. Satty, 434 U.S. 136, 142-43, 98 S.Ct. 347, 351-52, 54 L.Ed.2d 356 (1977), the Court held that an employer's mandatory maternity leave program that forced a woman to take formal leave without pay and resulted in a loss of seniority constituted sex discrimination under Title VII. It distinguished the case from Geduldig and Gilbert by noting that the mandatory leave policy imposed a substantial burden on women. Id. at 142, 98 S.Ct. at 351. 22 In response to the Geduldig and Gilbert decisions, Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, amending Title VII to include pregnancy classifications within the statutory definition of sex discrimination. That Act in effect overruled Gilbert. Newport News Ship Bldg. & Dry Dock Co. v. EEOC, 462 U.S. 669, 670, 103 S.Ct. 2622, 2624, 77 L.Ed.2d 89 (1983). Therefore, the Court has conceded that, for statutory purposes, discrimination based on a woman's pregnancy is, on its face, discrimination because of her sex. Id. at 684, 103 S.Ct. at 2631. 23 Although the Court has held that discrimination based on pregnancy is sex discrimination under Title VII, that conclusion does not necessarily preclude courts from treating pregnant women differently. Under equal protection cases, such classifications are not gender based. Geduldig, 417 U.S. at 496-97 n. 20, 94 S.Ct. at 2492 n. 20; see Newport News, 462 U.S. at 677, 103 S.Ct. at 2628 (distinguishing Title VII discrimination analysis from the equal protection standard set forth in Geduldig ). The juvenile court's decision to decline jurisdiction over Toomey based partly on her pregnancy was not, on its face, sex discrimination. 24