In wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, many U.S. companies have moved quickly to provide support and financial help to their employees who need to receive abortions in states that have outlawed the procedure. Potentially millions of women will soon be looking to cross state lines in order to get an abortion, so employers have added “critical healthcare” packages to their benefits.
Many large companies including Band of America and Goldman Sachs have joined companies that had previously provided this benefit. Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase have already been offering travel benefits, and on Friday Citigroup’s head of human resources wrote, “We will continue to provide benefits that support our colleagues’ family planning choices wherever we are legally permitted to do so” in a memo to employees.
After the draft version of the opinion overturning Roe was first leaked in early May, Microsoft extended its financial support for “critical healthcare.” Apple and Facebook parent company Meta have also now announced they will offer travel expense reimbursement to “the extent permitted by law.” Entertainment companies including Disney, Condé Nast, Warner Bros Discover, and Netflix have all also agreed to provide travel reimbursements.
Despite these larger companies having the ability to mitigate the supreme court ruling, it may not cover employees who work at firms that have recently relocated to states that have either enacted restrictions or banned total access to abortion. Previously, States like Texas and Missouri, which will likely soon commit to a nearly total ban on abortion, had been selling themselves as low-tax and low-regulation locations for companies.
Companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Apple have all increased their presence in these states to take advantage of this. However, the abortion bans could make it difficult for these states to keep these companies as well as hinder them from attracting any new business. Several politicians including St. Louis Mayor, Tishaura Jones, have expressed concerns that abortion bans at the state level will make it harder to attract business. In Kansas City, one business has already backed out of plans to set up in the city.
Despite the decisions made by these companies, many of the country’s largest employers have remained silent on the issue. McDonald’s PepsiCo, Coca-Cola General Motors, and Walmart have not changed any of their policies in wake of the news. Walmart, which is based in Arkansas, is the largest employer in the US and has dozens of stores in states that now have abortion bans.
