'It really comes down to equal access to care,' Yelp to offer U.S. workers abortion travel benefit

Record ID: 1671564

  • Title: 'It really comes down to equal access to care,' Yelp to offer U.S. workers abortion travel benefit
  • Date: 5th May 2022
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 25, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AMAZON'S 'JFK8' STATEN ISLAND FULFILLMENT CENTER
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2022 22:06
  • Keywords: Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court Yelp abortion employees pregnancies travel benefit
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA006607105052022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Yelp, Inc said on Thursday (May 5) it will cover expenses for its employees and their dependents who need to travel to another state for abortion services starting next month, making it the latest U.S. company to offer similar benefits to its workers.
    The crowd-sourced review platform for restaurants and other businesses will provide travel benefits to its U.S. employees who need to travel out of states like Texas and Oklahoma that have restricted access to abortion services.
    "Yelp is a distributed workforce, and we have employees in all 50 states, and we hire people to work remotely from wherever they might be," said Miriam Warren, Yelp's chief diversity officer. "And so having a benefits package that is comprehensive and that applies to people no matter where they live and recognizes all of their attendant health care needs, I think is really important, and it absolutely is, you know, part of the value proposition of coming to work at Yelp."
    Other companies, such as Amazon, Apple, HP Enterprise, Levi’s, Match, Salesforce, have pledged to offer similar support to their Texas-based employees.
    Uber and Lyft announced that they will coordinate with healthcare providers in Texas and Oklahoma and offer rides to clients seeking out-of-state abortions, including paying fees of drivers fined for transporting a people to abortion clinics.
    Dating app Bumble opened a fund for Texan residents who need help paying for out-of-state abortions.
    Citigroup in March started covering travel expenses for employees who go out of state for abortions, becoming the first major U.S. bank to make that commitment.
    Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on Tuesday signed a bill that makes it illegal to perform an abortion in the state except in medical emergencies, penalizing those who do with up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.
    The Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June on a case involving a Republican-backed Mississippi law that gives its conservative majority a chance to undermine or even repeal the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
    (Production: Aleksandra Michalska)
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