From the ACLU, this is at Liberty. I'm Kendall Seasmeyer, your host.

On Tuesday, June 27th, more than a decade after its first introduction in a congressional committee,

the Pregnant Workers' Fairness Act went into effect,

changing the landscape of work for all pregnant people.

Before this law, many pregnant workers had to decide between protecting their jobs

and protecting their health.

While there have been efforts in the past to protect pregnant workers, employers have always

been able to find loopholes to avoid providing accommodations.

Against their judgment and against their doctor's judgment, pregnant workers have had to

lift heavy objects, stand for hours on end,

and expose themselves to harmful chemicals. This will no longer be the case, thanks to national

advocacy efforts, including those from us here at the ACLU. Today, we're speaking with

Vanya Lavelle, Senior Legislative Council and the ACLU's National Political Advocacy Department, who will share more about the mammoth undertaking that moved this law to its passage. And also, Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney for the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, who will detail what the act looks like in practice.

Vanya, Jillian, welcome to at Liberty. So happy to have you here to talk about good news. We love

good news. Yeah, happy to be here. Thanks so much for having us.

So first off, I just want to say congratulations on passing the Pregnant

Workers' Fairness Act, known as PWFA for short. How did you feel when the law was passed

on December 23rd and then when officially went into effect on June 27th? Can you take us back

to those moments? Vanya, I'll start with you. It's really hard to describe

the joy that we felt. This had been a long time coming. We've been working on this bill

for 10 years, but the last three years, for some of the most

grueling, you know, years that I've been through in terms of legislative advocacy and trying to

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