PETITION TARGET: U.S. Congress
On factory farms across the country, mother pigs are forced to live most of their numbered days trapped in gestation crates: metal cages so small they cannot walk, turn around, or stretch their limbs to natural lengths. A mother pig may endure her entire pregnancy imprisoned in this torturous crate.
Young calves raised for veal are typically confined to pens where they have no room to walk, run, or play — so their muscles never develop. Hens may be kept in cages so small they cannot fully raise their wings.
California’s Proposition 12 restricted the use of gestation crates on factory farms by banning the in-state production and sale of certain products harvested from pigs subjected to these cages. The bill also set minimum space requirements for other animals, including baby cows and hens. The bill was overwhelmingly supported by voters and upheld by the Supreme Court last year.
Now, newly proposed amendments to the federal Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 — also called the Farm Bill — could eradicate these basic welfare protections for mother pigs and other farmed animals.
According to the bill’s text, states would not be allowed to prohibit the sale of animal-based products that caused extreme suffering — like pig products from farms with gestation crates.
“Producers of covered livestock have a Federal right to raise and market their covered livestock in interstate commerce,” the Farm Bill reads, “and therefore no State or subdivision thereof may enact or enforce, directly or indirectly, a condition or standard on the production of covered livestock other than for covered livestock physically raised in such State or subdivision.”
Pigs, cows, and other farmed animals are extremely intelligent, sentient beings. They deserve, at the very least, the ability to move their limbs — and voters deserve the right to enforce animal welfare regulations related to products sold within their own state borders.
Sign our petition urging Congress to oppose the amended Farm Bill — and to reject any future attempts to strip away commonsense animal welfare laws.
