Amazon and Disney join revolt over US abortion bans
String of top firms vow they’ll pay for staff forced to cross state lines after judges overturn Roe vs Wade
MAJOR US firms have vowed to defy the overturning of women’s right to legal abortions by covering the costs of staff who travel to other states for the procedure.
Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and JP Morgan Chase were among the firms that extended health insurance policies after the landmark legal ruling.
But the show of support could see companies sued by Republican states.
The Supreme Court judgment means women living in roughly half of the 50 states planning to ban abortion must go elsewhere for the procedure.
On Friday the court overturned a ruling from 1973 known as Roe vs Wade which had guaranteed American women the constitutional right to an abortion.
The decision, driven by the court’s con
‘Crushing blow to reproductive rights’
servative majority, upheld a Mississippi law which bans abortion after 15 weeks.
Conde Nast chief executive Roger Lynch announced a travel reimbursement policy and called the court’s ruling ‘a crushing blow to reproductive rights’.
Walt Disney Co unveiled a similar policy, telling staff it recognises the impact of the ruling. Companies including insurer Cigna, PayPal and Alaska Airlines also announced reimbursement policies.
Levi Strauss & Co, Ben & Jerry’s and dating website OkCupid were among the businesses that reaffirmed similar policies.
Tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft defied the court’s ruling, but the move by Amazon is significant as its many low-paid workers may not be able to afford to travel to other states. Abortion restrictions already on the books in 13 states went into effect as a result of the ruling and at least a dozen other Republican- led states are expected to ban the procedure.
Companies will have to navigate a complex patchwork of state laws and are likely to draw the ire of Republican-led states if they adopt policies supportive of employees having abortions.
State lawmakers in Texas have already threatened investment bank Citigroup and ride-hailing app Lyft, which unveiled travel reimbursement policies, with legal repercussions. They vowed to bar firms from doing business in Texas if they pay for residents to receive abortions elsewhere. Protests continued across the country this weekend.
There were angry clashes in Los Angeles and in Indianapolis, as women dressed as characters from The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about a society that forces fertile women to bear children.