Walmart increases abortion coverage for workers
Walmart, which has more employees than any other company in the country, is increasing its coverage for abortions for workers. This comes after the country’s biggest employer, Walmart, stayed mostly quiet about the issue for months after the Supreme Court’s decision to end the right to abortion nationwide.
The announcement that the company’s health care plans will now cover abortions for its employees was made in a memo that was distributed to employees on Friday. According to the memo, the company will cover abortions “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, or lack of fetal viability.”
According to Donna Morris, the chief people officer for the retailer, the new policy will also provide “travel support” for employees and dependents who are covered under their health care plans. This will allow employees and dependents to access services that are not available within one hundred miles of their homes.
Almost 1.6 million people are employed at Walmart in the United States. In the state of Arkansas, where the headquarters of the company are located, it is illegal to have an abortion under any circumstances, with the exception of situations in which the procedure is required to save the mother’s life in the event of a serious medical emergency. When it comes to rape and incest, there are no exemptions.
A Walmart spokesman didn’t respond right away to a question about whether or not the company’s health plan or travel assistance would cover abortions that people choose to have.
According to a copy of the policy, the company’s benefits plan had only covered abortions “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.”
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, a number of companies, including Meta, American Express, and Bank of America, have said that they would pay for their workers’ travel expenses. But a large number of other companies and groups, including ones that represent some of the most well-known companies in the country, have kept quiet.
