The World - News from Dec. 7, 1987

A decisive 72.5% of Swiss voters rejected a proposal to prevent employers from firing women when they become pregnant, a common practice in Switzerland. The measure was strongly opposed by employers’ organizations but backed by Parliament and the federal government. It included a provision to pay maternity benefits for 16 weeks, financed by deductions from salaries of all wage-earners. Parliamentarian Hans-Rudolf Frueh, who spearheaded the campaign against the measure, said in a radio interview, “The people have decided that parenthood is a private matter.”