Pregnant Transgender People: What to Expect from the Court of Justice of the European Union's Jurisprudence on Pregnancy Discrimination

Abstract

Pregnant transgender people’s experiences vary: they may identify as male or non-binary and may seek gender-affirming medical care to different degrees. This variety in gender identities and bodies puts additional pressure on CJEU’s pregnancy discrimination case law—a case law that is, as this Article argues, already flawed. Building on a critique of the CJEU’s decision in Dekker, this Article discusses three alternative approaches to addressing pregnancy discrimination in EU law. The first two approaches are different ways of construing pregnancy discrimination as sex discrimination. First, the Article discusses a gender-stereotyping approach to direct sex discrimination, and, second, an indirect sex discrimination analysis. The third approach is to introduce a separate provision on pregnancy discrimination in EU legislation. This Article argues that this third approach provides the fullest protection for all types of pregnancy discrimination—including the pregnancy discrimination that pregnant transgender people experience.