How is Corporate America Responding to the Overturning of Roe v. Wade?
On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade – a decision that will demand critical leadership not only from the public sector, but from the private sector as well, something we discussed with experts from McPherson Strategies and Evergreen Strategy Group in a recent interview on how corporate leaders should best support their workers in a post-Roe world. American women of course most keenly face the consequences of this radical legislative change, and the choices made by business leaders going forward will play a crucial role in shaping the lives of their women employees – as well as the resiliency of their businesses.
In an effort to understand how the landscape will shift for the American workforce, we will be tracking how America’s largest companies respond to the ruling. The majority of the responses to date have been from companies confirming that they will cover travel expenses for employee abortions. Companies like Alphabet and Salesforce are also stepping up to offer relocation services for employees that want to move out of restrictive states.
In one of the more novel responses, Patagonia announced it would offer bail for full- and part-time workers who “peacefully protest for reproductive justice.” Live Nation also announced that it would provide bail for any employees who are arrested for protesting peacefully. Patagonia, however, was one of the few companies connecting the moment to additional benefits supporting women in the workplace including paid parental leave as well as subsidized child-care.
Companies have the power to broaden the conversation (and action) around the decision to include how companies can more comprehensively support women in the workplace from equal to providing paid parental leave, subsidized child care, flexible work, and more. As we saw from our research released earlier this year, only 23% of companies are releasing their gender pay gap analysis, only 20% offer backup dependent care, and only 6% offer 12 weeks or more paid parental leave for both caregivers. In fact only three companies hit the highest threshold analysis across six gender equity dimensions showing how much work is ahead to take care of women more broadly in workplaces across America.
This tracker will be updated with new information as it is released:
(Updated 7/5/22)
Expanding Access and Travel Benefits
Accenture (added 6/29/22) will help cover travel for employees who need health care procedures not provided locally.
Adidas (added 6/28/22) will pay up to $10,000 in travel and lodging expenses for employees who must travel out of state for an abortion.
Adobe (added 6/30/22) will pay the travel expenses for employees that must travel out-of-state for an abortion.
Alphabet confirmed in an internal memo that “To support Googlers and their dependents, our US benefits plan and health insurance covers out-of-state medical procedures that are not available where an employee lives and works.”
American Express (added 6/30/22) will pay the travel expenses for employees that must travel out-of-state for an abortion.
Airbnb (added 6/28/22)is expanding its commitment to pay for the travel of any employee who needs an abortion and cannot get one in their state.
Alaska Airlines (added 6/28/22)will continue to reimburse employees for travel expenses related to certain medical procedures and treatments if they are not available where they live.
Amazon added an employee benefit that would cover up to $4,000 in expenses for traveling out of state for healthcare, whether for reproductive rights or other medical issues.
Apple’s insurance plan now covers the costs of abortion treatment and any related travel for employees in Texas, with the possibility of extending this benefit to more states.
AT&T (6/30/22) will reimburse travel expenses for employees who must travel for an abortion.
Bank of America confirmed with The New York Times that it has expanded the list of medical treatments that are eligible for travel expense reimbursement. This list now includes cancer treatment, organ transplants at centers of excellence, reproductive health care including abortion, and hospital admissions for mental health conditions.
Biogen (added 6/28/22)is making out-of-state medical care, including abortion, accessible for its employees.
Bloomberg (added 6/29/22) will help cover travel for employees who need health care procedures not provided locally.
Buzzfeed (added 6/28/22) will cover travel expenses for abortion.
Chobani (added 6/29/22)will help cover travel for employees who need health care procedures not provided locally.
Cigna (added 6/28/22)is expanding travel reimbursement for certain health services to include abortion care, gender-affirming care, and behavioral health services in states where access is restricted
Citigroup has announced that its health insurance plan would pick up the expenses for employees who need to travel for an abortion, despite warnings from a Texas legislator that he would introduce a bill that would prevent the bank from underwriting municipal bonds in the state unless it rescinded this policy.
Comcast’s employee health plan, as reported by Variety, will reimburse travel for abortion and other medical procedures.
Conde Nast has amended its benefits to pay for the travel of anyone who needs an abortion and can’t get one in their current state.
Dick’s Sporting Goods announced that if an employee lives in a state restricts access to abortion, the company will provide up to $4,000 in reimbursement to travel to the nearest location where that care is legally available. This benefit will be provided to any teammate, spouse or dependent enrolled in its medical plan, along with one support person.
Disney confirms it will help pay for pregnancy-related care for its employees if they have to travel to a different state.
DoorDash will cover employee travel expenses for abortions.
Expedia will help cover travel for employees who needed health care procedures not provided locally.
Goldman Sachs announced, “We have extended our healthcare travel reimbursement policies to include all medical procedures, treatments and evaluations, including abortion services and gender-affirming care where a provider is not available in proximity to where our people live.”
HP (added 6/30/22) announces that its healthcare plans will continue to cover a wide range of reproductive health services, including abortion procedures and related travel expenses.
HPE previously stated it will cover costs associated with out-of-state travel for any of its Texas-based employees who need to have an abortion.
Intuit confirmed with The New York Times that it would cover employee travel expenses to get abortions.
JPMorgan Chase will pay employees’ costs to travel to other states to have an abortion.
Kroger (added 6/28/22)offers travel assistance for employees seeking abortions.
Levi’s announces that any abortion-related service and travel fees its employees incur would be covered by the company’s health insurance plan.
Lyft confirmed it will cover travel expenses for abortions and also told The New York Times it was expanding its “legal defense commitment” to protecting drivers who may be sued for taking people to clinics. “No driver should have to ask a rider where they are going and why.”
Mastercard will cover the travel costs of those seekings abortions out-of-state.
Meta told The New York Times that “We intend to offer travel expense reimbursements, to the extent permitted by law, for employees who will need them to access out-of-state health care and reproductive services. We are in the process of assessing how best to do so given the legal complexities involved.”
Microsoft (added 6/28/22)is extending travel expense assistance to employees seeking abortion and gender-affirming care and who have limited access to these services in their home state. Its XBOX gaming division has also implemented these benefits.
Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey) will cover employee and covered-dependent costs for travel for abortion, infertility, and gender-affirming care.
Netflix told Insider it will reimburse expenses for U.S. employees and their dependents who need to travel for cancer treatment, transplants, gender-affirming care, or abortions through its health plans. It is a $10,000 lifetime allowance per employee and/or their dependents per service.
Nike (6/30/22) will pay employees’ costs to travel to other states to have an abortion.
Omnicom (added 6/28/22)has paid the travel costs for out-of-state medical procedures, including abortion, since 2006.
Paramount (added 6/28/22)will cover employee abortion travel costs.
Patagonia will offer travel, lodging and food payments for those who have to travel for an abortion, as well as bail for those who peacefully protest for reproductive justice.
PayPal (added 6/28/22)recommits to paying travel costs for employee abortions.
Playstation Studios (the umbrella of Sony’s first-party video game developers) are implementing a travel-reimbursement plan for anyone who must travel to obtain an abortion.
Reddit (added 6/28/22) expanded its travel stipend for those who need to travel out of state for medical care, including abortions.
Starbucks announced an expansion of its employee benefits package that will soon include reimbursement for travel to access abortion or gender-affirming care that is not available locally. The benefit also applies to employees’ dependents enrolled in the company’s programs.
Target (added 6/29/22) will cover travel costs for employees who must travel out-of-state for an abortion.
T-Mobile (added 6/28/22) will cover the travels costs for those who must travel out-of-state for an abortion.
Tesla announced it will offer travel and lodging support for those who may need to seek healthcare services that are unavailable in their home state.
Uber continued to pledge to pay the legal fees of any drivers fined for transporting a customer to an out-of-state abortion clinic and also confirmed the company’s insurance coverage for a range of reproductive health benefits, including pregnancy termination.
Warner Brothers will cover travel expenses for abortions.
Wells Fargo (6/30/22) will pay employees’ costs to travel to other states to have an abortion.
WPP will pay employees to travel for abortions as needed.
Yelp will cover the costs of travel for workers in states where reproductive rights are limited. Zillow will reimburse its employees up to $7,500 when significant travel is required for medical procedures including abortions.
Expanding Relocation Benefits
Alphabet confirmed in an internal memo that “Googlers can also apply for relocation without justification, and those overseeing this process will be aware of the situation.”
Salesforce’s CEO responded to the Texas Heartbeat Act last fall by saying the company would pay for any of its Texas-based employees who wanted to move out of the state entirely. A spokesperson confirmed with The New York Times last week that “We will continue to offer our longstanding travel and relocation benefits to ensure employees and their families have access to critical health care services.”
Protecting Information Privacy
Google (added 7/5/22) will delete location data when people visit abortion clinics in order to protect their digital privacy.
Taking a Stand
Don’t Ban Equality, a coalition of businesses, said more than 350 companies had signed its letter opposing restrictions on abortion access including Etsy, Levi Strauss, Match Group, and Yelp.
Levi’s called on business leaders to take a stand against the ruling. “Protection of reproductive rights is a critical business issue impacting our workforce, our economy and progress toward gender and racial equity. Given what is at stake, business leaders need to make their voices heard.”
Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said business leaders should speak out against the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.“This ruling puts women’s health in jeopardy, denies them their human rights, and threatens to dismantle the progress we’ve made toward gender equality in the workplaces since Roe. Business leaders must step up to support the health and safety of their employees by speaking out against the wave of abortion bans that will be triggered as a result of this decision, and call on Congress to codify Roe into law.”
Restricting Discussions
Meta warned to follow its “Respectful Communications Policy,” which bans discussions about abortion in official workplace channels. In a memo outlining the policy in May, the company wrote that “discussing abortion openly at work has a heightened risk of creating a hostile work environment,” though it does allow discussion of personal experience in 1:1 meetings and other private settings.
Links to Other Trackers
Fortune has published many of the internal memos of the announcements above here
The New York Times is tracking companies that will cover travel expenses for employee abortions here.
Insider has also been tracking corporate responses here.
Rhia Ventures is tracking corporate responses, travel coverage for abortion care, PTO offered for recovery, and support for reproductive rights organizations here.
