It's surprising that 30 years after passage of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act that complaints are being filed at record number.

Or maybe it's not surprising. Change in family issues comes slowly.

Sue Shellenbarger's always excellent column today in The Wall Street Journal highlights this issue, and explains that pregnancy-bias complaints recorded with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission surged by 14 percent last year and is up by 40 percent from a decade ago.

An advocacy group, 9to5, National Association of Working Women, also is seeing an increase of calls to its hot line.

While the increase is attributed to a new activism among mothers, one of their biggest surprises is that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act is not more protective.

Employers can indeed fire, lay off or refuse to hire pregnant women -- they just can't single them out for the condition and they have to prove they hold men to the same standards or asked male job candidates comparable questions.

Among other advocacy groups, MomsRising.org is mounting a public attack on what it calls "maternal profiling" -- unfair treatment of women who have, or will have children.

If you've got questions about your own situation, the 9to5 organization has a hot line (1-800-422-0925) that links to trained staff who can provide guidance or assistance. In particular they can explain what the various family leave, sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination laws provide. Each year they talk to roughly 15,000 women from across the country seeking help.

Those who have concerns about possible discrimination also can contact EEOC offices, which also has a hot line, 1-800-669-4000.