Citigroup says it has begun protecting journey bills for workers who search abortions after a Texas legislation imposed essentially the most restrictive limits within the nation and prompted related proposals in different states.
“In response to adjustments in reproductive well being care legal guidelines in sure states within the U.S., starting in 2022 we offer journey advantages to facilitate entry to ample assets,” the financial institution stated in a submitting on Tuesday.
About 8,500 of Citigroup’s 65,000 U.S. workers are in Texas.
The coverage places a Wall Avenue financial institution alongside smaller or newer firms in responding to the Texas legislation, which bans abortion after about six weeks of being pregnant and affords the prospect of $10,000 rewards for profitable lawsuits towards anybody who “aids or abets” a girl who will get an abortion as soon as fetal cardiac exercise may be detected.
The legislation is the newest blow to the Supreme Court docket’s landmark 1973 resolution in Roe v. Wade, which prohibits states from banning the process earlier than a fetus is viable outdoors the womb, or about 23 weeks of being pregnant. The Texas legislation’s novel method has survived court docket challenges by placing its enforcement energy within the arms of the general public, fairly than the federal government.
Citigroup declined to touch upon the brand new coverage, which was reported earlier by Bloomberg Information. No different main financial institution has introduced any related coverage. JPMorgan Chase, Financial institution of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to touch upon Thursday.
Plenty of firms in different industries instituted insurance policies in opposition to the legislation after it went into impact in September. The courting app Bumble created a relief fund for individuals looking for abortions within the state, Salesforce offered to relocate workers, and Lyft and Uber stated they might cowl authorized prices for drivers transporting ladies to clinics to obtain abortions. Shar Dubey, the chief government of Match Group — which runs on-line courting websites together with Match.com, OKCupid and Tinder — created a fund to help workers affected by the laws.
Supply: NY Times