The U.S. Supreme Court heard another case Wednesday about women's reproductive rights. This time, however, pro-life and pro-choice groups were on the same side.
Peggy Young, who was a UPS truck driver for four years, shed new light on women's reproductive rights after she became pregnant. Young's doctor wrote her a note requesting for her not to lift more than 20 pounds, which in turn caused Young to lose her job and health insurance.
"When I took the note to the nurse, she basically said, 'Well, we don't give alternative work or light duty to off-work incidents.' I'm like, 'I'm pregnant, there's not an incident here, and I can do my regular job.' They would not allow me to," Young told NPR.
The job and insurance loss was difficult for Young and her husband to deal with, leading them to sue UPS for back pay and damages under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, NPR reported.
"Many nights I didn't sleep so well," Young said to NPR, adding that it was "very disturbing that I couldn't work when I wanted to work ... They coded me in their system as disabled, but I didn't qualify for disability because I could work. ... I'm a normal person, I was just pregnant. Pregnancy is not a disability. Pregnancy is not a handicap. It's none of that."
UPS requires employees to be able to lift up to 70 pounds at a time. As a truck driver Young is only faced with lifting something over 20 pounds a few times a month.
Samuel Bagenstos, a University of Michigan law professor, is representing Young. He argues that drivers who lost their licenses were assigned light duty until they could get their licenses back and drivers who had strokes and hypertension who were reassigned to light duty to allow them to get their health back, as NPR reported. Bagenstos pointed out that these non-pregnant workers who couldn't fulfill their job requirements were treated more favorably than pregnant workers.
Once the Supreme Court said they would hear Young's case UPS changed its policy to accommodate pregnant workers, such as Young.
