The abortion debate has been reignited after a leaked draft opinion suggests that Roe v. Wade could be overturned by the Supreme Court.
It is a highly sensitive topic that few companies want to touch.
Since the revelation by Politico.com of a draft from the Supreme Court showing that a majority opinion had voted to overturn the Roe v. Wade law legalizing abortion, very few companies have spoken on the subject.
If Roe vs. Wade were overthrown it would become difficult to have an abortion in many conservative states which have already warned that they will immediately put in place laws intended to ban abortion. In the past several months, some republican-led states have sought to restrict abortion rights, forcing companies to find ways to bypass a larger crackdown.
In its 2021 Impact report published on May 6, Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report indicated that the company will cover the travel and accommodation costs of employees for health services that they cannot receive in the state where they reside.
The report does not mention the word ‘abortion’ in any way, but its wording is very clear.
Since 2021, the electric vehicle manufacturer offered “an expanded safety net program and health insurance offering that includes travel and lodging support for those who may need to seek healthcare services that are unavailable in their home state.”
Tesla, which has not had a communications department for a year, did not immediately respond to a request from TheStreet asking for details.
Stigma
The EV manufacturer has had its headquarters in Texas since last December. A few months before that, the state made almost all abortions illegal after six weeks of pregnancy.
Tesla is not the only company to offer to cover the costs of its employees forced to have abortions in a state other than the one in which they reside. Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report, Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report, Yelp (YELP) – Get Yelp Inc Report, Citigroup (C) – Get Citigroup Inc. Report, and Levi Strauss (LEVI) – Get Levi Strauss & Co. Class A Report were some of the other companies that committed to covering travel expenses related to abortions for their employees who need to travel out-of-state.
Uber (UBER) – Get Uber Technologies, Inc. Report and Lyft (LYFT) – Get Lyft, Inc. Class A Report have already said they will pay the legal fees of drivers who will be sued in Oklahoma and Texas for transporting and driving a woman seeking an abortion to a clinic.
What is striking is that Tesla, like many other companies, does not actually use the word “abortion”. According to many feminist and pro-choice groups, refusing to use the word abortion contributes to the stigma around it.
President Joe Biden has been criticized for the same thing recently by We Testify, an organization that says it represents people who have abortions.
“President Biden has been in office for one year overseeing the current abortion crisis that will inevitably undo Roe v. Wade and he has yet to make a public statement himself about the crisis or use the word ‘abortion’,” We Testify said on its website.
