A small but growing number of companies, including Amazon.com and Tesla Inc, are rolling out policies to offer benefits to U.S. employees who may need to access abortion services as some state legislatures impose tighter restrictions.
An unprecedented leak of a draft opinion earlier this month suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court is set to vote to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.
Following is a list of companies who have offered their U.S. employees reproductive healthcare benefits including abortion coverage or travel benefits for out-of-state abortions.
Company Benefit(s) Offered
Citigroup Inc The bank has started covering travel expenses for employees
who go out of state for abortions because of newly enacted
restrictions in Texas and other places, becoming the first
major U.S. bank to make that commitment.
Yelp Inc The crowd-sourced review platform will extend its abortion
coverage to cover expenses for its employees and their
dependents who need to travel to another state for abortion
services.
Amazon.com The second-largest U.S. private employer told employees it
will pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses yearly for
non-life threatening medical treatments, among them
elective abortions.
Levi Strauss & CO The apparel company will reimburse travel expenses for its
full- and part-time employees who need to travel to another
state for healthcare services, including abortions.
United Talent Agency The private Hollywood talent agency said it would reimburse
travel expenses related to women’s reproductive health
services that are not accessible in an employee’s state of
residence.
Tesla Inc Tesla’s Safety Net program and health insurance includes
travel and lodging support for its employees who may need
to seek healthcare services that are unavailable in their
home state, according to the company’s 2021 impact report.
[https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2021-tesla-impact-report.pdf
]
Microsoft Corp Microsoft Corp said that it would extend its abortion and
gender affirming care services for employees in the United
States to include travel expense assistance.
(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo; Editing by Anna Driver and Rosalba O’Brien)
