A range of large companies are endeavoring to assist their employees with maintaining access to abortion following the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. That ruling means state officials will be free to restrict or allow abortion according to their wishes, no matter the health consequences.
Meta — formerly known as Facebook — is among the aforementioned companies, although they don’t seem to have a full plan ready yet. “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,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said.
Dick’s Sporting Goods — which has over 50,000 employees — has a more solid plan already rolling out. “While we do not know what decision each state will make in response to this ruling, we at DICK’S Sporting Goods are prepared to ensure that all of our teammates have consistent and safe access to the benefits we provide, regardless of the state in which they live,” CEO Lauren Hobart said on LinkedIn this Friday. “In response to today’s ruling, we are announcing that if a state one of our teammates lives in restricts access to abortion, DICK’S Sporting Goods will provide up to $4,000 in travel expense reimbursement to travel to the nearest location where that care is legally available.” That benefit will be available to any employee — and any spouse or dependent of an employee — enrolled in a company medical plan, “along with one support person,” Hobart explained.
Disney is providing similar benefits. An internal memo signed by Paul Richardson, chief human resources officer, and Pascale Thomas, vice president of enterprise benefits and well-being, said, in part: “In fact, we have processes in place so that an employee who may be unable to access care in one location has affordable coverage for receiving similar levels of care in another location. This travel benefit covers medical situations related to cancer treatments, transplants, rare disease treatment and family planning (including pregnancy-related decisions).” And at WarnerBros Discovery, a spokesperson informed NBC that “in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision, we immediately expanded our healthcare benefits options to cover transportation expenses for employees and their covered family members who need to travel to access abortion and reproductive care.”
In other words, there’s a mix of benefits that were already available and new measures. Other companies making travel-related benefits available for employees who might need them in relation to obtaining reproductive healthcare services include JPMorgan Chase, Comcast, Microsoft, Netflix, and Block. These opportunities for assistance include various restrictions; at Netflix, travel reimbursement coverage is available for full-time U.S. employees and dependents of said employees and “is a $10,000 lifetime allowance per employee and/or their dependents per service,” Reuters says. Apple, the tech company, has apparently made travel coverage available to employees for awhile, which it reiterated after the Supreme Court’s decision. “For more than a decade, Apple’s comprehensive benefits have allowed our employees to travel out-of-state for medical care if it is unavailable in their home state,” Apple stated.
Featured image: Lorie Shaull, available via Creative Commons license
