Texas-based Bumble and CEO of dating app company Match, along with Uber and Lyft, have announced they will help women fight the state’s new draconian anti-abortion law.
Shar Dubey, CEO of Match Group with about 400 employees in Dallas, said in a note to staff Thursday night that she was “shocked that I now live in a state where women’s reproductive laws are more regressive than most world “.
He added: “I’m not talking about this as the general manager of a company. I am talking about this personally, as a mother and woman who has been fervently concerned about women’s rights, including the fundamental right of choice over her body. ”
New Texas law makes it illegal for women to have abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, beyond six weeks after conception, which is even earlier than most people know she is pregnant.
It also establishes a reward system that rewards vigilantes who report illegal abortions by allowing them to sue people such as health workers or drivers who bring women to clinics to “help or incite” the procedure for $ 10,000.
The Supreme Court voted Wednesday 5-4 not to immediately block the law, which essentially removed the constitutional guarantees of reproductive rights underscored in Roe v. Wade nearly half a century ago.
Dubey announced that he is personally creating a fund to provide assistance to Texas employees, required by the country’s most restrictive anti-abortion law to seek out-of-state care.
Austin-based Bumble announced Wednesday that it is creating a “relief fund” that will go to six organizations that support reproductive rights. He encouraged women who needed help to reach these groups.
“Bumble is founded and led by women and, from day one, we have defended the most vulnerable. We will continue to fight regressive laws like # SB8, ”Bumble wrote on Twitter.
Uber and Lyft have promised to cover 100% of legal driver fees that could now be sued under the new law for taking women to abortion clinics.
“Riders should never justify, not even share, where they are going and why,” Lyft said in a statement. “Imagine being a pregnant woman trying to get to a health appointment and not knowing if your driver will cancel you for fear of breaking a law. Both are totally unacceptable. “
Uber followed Lyft’s example in a tweet from CEO Dara Khrosrowshahi.
Social media responses to companies ’actions were largely supportive, although many also encouraged them to leave the state.
A new poll found that two-thirds of college-educated workers would not move to a state with an anti-abortion law as restrictive as the one Texas passed.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott defended the law Thursday in a CNBC interview, describing it as part of the state’s favorable business climate. So far, companies are not buying it.
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