How has Walmart expanded its abortion coverage in their employees’ health care plans?
The company has extended support to millions of staff in response to sweeping changes to abortion law in dozens of states.
While the Supreme Court and US states have been gutting protections for women seeking abortion, millions now have to rely upon their workplace having structures in place to protect their rights.
Walmart, with its position as the US’s largest private employer with more than 1.6 million staff, has reacted to the changing legislation by enhancing its protection to it’s staff. In a memo sent to employees last Friday, the retail giant said its healthcare plans will cover abortion for employees “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability.” The plans will be “effective immediately”,
“Given how recent events are resulting in state-by-state healthcare environments, we will expand our travel coverage,” the memo said.
Their previous abortion protection was only in cases when, “the health of the mother would be in danger if the fetus were carried to term, the fetus could not survive the birthing process, or death would be imminent after birth”, according to a copy of the policy viewed by the Associated Press.
While the company has garnered some praise for this, it has also been criticised for not extending this protection to workers who require an abortion by choice. This is at odds with other big companies like Meta. That companies are having to fill the role vacated by the state for previous constitutional protections should be a worry.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s simply not far enough for a company that employs that many women,” said Bianca Agustin, director of the corporate accountability program for United for Respect, a group that advocates for Walmart workers.
What is the state of abortion freedom in the US?
The constitutional protections for abortion afforded by Roe v Wade have been removed and states can now move to ban the procedure. The Guttmacher Institute anticipates that a total of 26 states are likely to impose new restrictions on abortion and even ban it entirely.
There are 13 states that have so-called ‘trigger laws’ on the books, which were designed to introduce new laws restricting abortion as soon as Roe v Wade was overturned.