Even before the Supreme Court decided end the legalization of abortion At the federal level, several large American companies had indicated their intention to help their employees who need this practice.
The aid consists of bearing all the expenses, including travel and per diem, of moving to other States where the interruption of pregnancy will continue to be legal. This is the case of companies such as Apple, Amazon, Disney, Meta (former Facebook), Microsoft, the Condé Nast publishing house, the Levi Strauss jeans manufacturer and the JPMorgan Chase bank, among others.
Most companies already cover abortion care in their health plan, but several major employers expanded their benefits to include travel costs after Texas enacted harsh restrictions on abortion earlier this year.
The Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it will reimburse workers for travel and planning costs associated with seeking an abortion. The company said in a statement that it will ensure its female employees have access to reproductive care “no matter where they live.”
In turn, Meta, owner of Facebook, also said Friday that it intends to reimburse the travel costs of employees seeking an abortion outside the state “to the extent permitted by law.”
“We are in the process of evaluating the best way to do this, given the legal complexities involved,” the tech giant said in a statement.
On the other hand, Condé Nast, a giant of the publishing industry, also assured that it will reimburse the travel and accommodation expenses of its workers who cannot legally obtain abortion, infertility or gender affirmation services locally.
Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch called the high court’s ruling a “crushing blow to reproductive rights that have been protected for nearly half a century,” in a memo sent to employees.
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Amazon, the e-commerce giant, said it will pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses annually for non-life-threatening medical procedures not available within a 100-mile circle around an employee’s home, including the abortions.
For its part, the JPMorgan Chase bank was available to expand its health plan to cover the travel expenses of employees who undergo a termination of pregnancy.
