US companies face abortion battle

After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 struck down federal abortion rights, hundreds of major U.S. companies reaffirmed their commitment to funding their employees' travel to access reproductive health services that have been restricted by government bans.

So what? They may not be so vocal this time. Trump did not express a unified opinion on a nationwide abortion ban, preferring instead to say it would be up to individual states. But higher-than-expected turnout for Trump among women, coupled with a likely Republican victory in Congress, has made further restrictions more likely.

Companies that are more committed to their employees' right to abortion face the potential threat

• drawing the ire of Republicans whose long fight against Biden's “woke” work policies just won electoral approval;
• higher employee benefit costs as state bans increase and distances for abortion care potentially extend into Mexico and Canada; And
• Lawsuits if they help employees illegally obtain abortion pills through the mail.

Everything is covered. According to Rhia Ventures

• 163 companies with more than 500 employees in the U.S. offer some form of coverage for abortion-related travel;
• 104 issued statements affirming workers' access to abortion; And
• 15 offer paid leave for abortion-related travel and recovery.

A typical policy covers employees' access to reproductive care within 100 miles of their location and travel expenses between $5,000 and $10,000. The question now is how far companies are willing to go to continue to defend this freedom.

Silent treatment. When asked if they expected to expand coverage for employees given Trump's election victory, household names like Goldman Sachs, H&M and Wells Fargo declined to comment or provide information about current provisions. Fourteen other companies chose not to respond at all.

A Patagonia spokesperson referred Tortoise to its existing policies, saying they have been “in effect for many years and are not a response to the election results.” The company goes further than most by offering mental health abortion coverage and, if necessary, bail for those peacefully protesting for reproductive justice.

What happens next under Trump 2.0? On Wednesday, Aid Access, the main supplier of abortion pills by mail in the United States, received 5,000 requests for pills in less than 12 hours – a larger increase than the day after the Roe v. Wade case. Women's health care providers also saw an increase in emergency contraceptive sales.

“We will be watching the threat to medication abortion most closely, particularly in the first months and years of his administration,” said Amy Friedrich-Karnik, director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute.

Experts say the threat could come in the form of stricter enforcement of the Comstock Act – a dormant 1837 law that, in its most literal interpretation, could ban sending “obscene” abortion or contraceptive instruments through the mail. Currently, the law is circumvented by FDA and DoJ orders. As an executive, Trump could certainly remove people once in office.

Allies attack. Trump's ambivalent attitude to abortion was a political calculation that apparently worked. His allies are more open.

• In 2022, Mike Johnson and more than 40 other House members signed a letter calling for Citibank to be stripped of its role as a credit card provider to the U.S. government after it offered to cover airfare and lodging costs for employees who seek abortions. Citi declined to comment.

• Elon Musk stopped short of calling for a national ban, but said: “If a baby can survive outside the womb, that's not abortion, it's murder.” His company Tesla offered to cover travel expenses for employees who died in 2022 wanted to seek an abortion, but did not respond to requests from Tortoise to reaffirm his commitment.

What's more… On Tuesday, voters in seven states approved ballot amendments that establish or protect a right to abortion in their state constitutions. Expect companies to think carefully about operating in the three regions where this was not the case: Nebraska, Florida, South Dakota.

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