Citigroup claims it has started covering travel bills for staff members who seek out abortions after a Texas regulation imposed the most restrictive limits in the nation and prompted related proposals in other states.
“In response to variations in reproductive wellbeing treatment legislation in specified states in the U.S., commencing in 2022 we provide vacation rewards to facilitate access to suitable methods,” the financial institution explained in a filing on Tuesday.
About 8,500 of Citigroup’s 65,000 U.S. workers are in Texas.
The policy puts a Wall Avenue bank alongside lesser or more recent companies in responding to the Texas legislation, which bans abortion right after about 6 weeks of pregnancy and gives the prospect of $10,000 rewards for thriving lawsuits from everyone who “aids or abets” a lady who receives an abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected.
The regulation is the newest blow to the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 conclusion in Roe v. Wade, which prohibits states from banning the technique just before a fetus is viable outside the house the womb, or about 23 weeks of being pregnant. The Texas law’s novel solution has survived court docket problems by putting its enforcement ability in the hands of the community, alternatively than the govt.
Citigroup declined to remark on the new policy, which was documented previously by Bloomberg Information. No other key lender has declared any equivalent policy. JPMorgan Chase, Financial institution of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to remark on Thursday.
A selection of companies in other industries instituted insurance policies in opposition to the regulation right after it went into influence in September. The courting app Bumble made a relief fund for individuals trying to get abortions in the state, Salesforce presented to relocate staff, and Lyft and Uber stated they would go over legal expenditures for drivers transporting ladies to clinics to receive abortions. Shar Dubey, the chief government of Match Group — which runs on-line courting web-sites together with Match.com, OKCupid and Tinder — established a fund to guidance employees affected by the legislation.