From Amazon to Yelp: The companies taking a stand on reproductive rights

Alexis Keenan · Senior Legal Reporter
2 min read

In This Article:

As the country awaits the Supreme Court's decision about whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, prominent companies have already taken political and financial stands against the erosion of reproductive rights.

The issue gained more urgency Monday after Politico published a leaked draft of the high court's pending majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that indicated a majority of justices have voted to take away the constitutional right to an abortion.

The case, which questions the constitutionality of state bans on elective "pre-viability" abortions, is one of the court's most controversial cases in decades — so much so that the highly charged and personal debate over a right to an abortion is spilling over into the corporate sphere.

Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Bumble (BMBL), Citigroup (C), Levi Strauss (LEVI), Match Group (MTCH), and Yelp (YELP) reimburse travel expenses incurred to obtain abortion care that's legally unavailable within their home state.

Meanwhile, Salesforce (CRM) is offering to pick up moving expenses for its employees who live in a state with an abortion ban exceeding that of Roe, and move to another without such restrictions.

Sarah Goggans holds her four-month-old daughter Lilith Centola during a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court, after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision later this year, in Washington, U.S. May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Sarah Goggans holds her four-month-old daughter Lilith Centola during a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court, after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision later this year, in Washington, U.S. May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein · Evelyn Hockstein / reuters

And Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) adopted similar policies that reimburse their drivers for legal fees to defend lawsuits in the event that they are accused of aiding and abetting an illegal abortion.

'Roe was egregiously wrong from the start'

The draft, written by Justice Samuel Alito, appears to overturn the federal right to choose to terminate a pregnancy during the first two trimesters as guaranteed by the landmark 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, and affirmed by the subsequent 1992 case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

In his draft opinion, Alito holds otherwise, reasoning that Mississippi was entitled to adopt a 2018 law that banned abortions at the beginning of the second trimester, after 15 weeks.

"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," Alito wrote.

If the decision stands as drafted, more U.S. companies may be pressed to take a public position on the matter. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research organization, states that adopted more restrictive laws after Roe v. Wade include, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Utah, and Texas.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.

Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news

For tutorials and information on investing and trading stocks, check out Cashay

Recommended Stories