Dive Brief:
- JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, among other large financial institutions, will pay, starting July 1, for employees to cross state lines to obtain a legal abortion, Bloomberg reported Friday.
- The development comes after the Supreme Court moved Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that made the procedure a constitutional right.
- The lenders — and several others — are following Citi, which announced in March it would cover out-of-state travel for employees to undergo the procedure. That policy prompted some Republicans in the House, and subsequently the Senate, to call on Congress to end its contractual relationship with Citi.
Dive Insight:
Since Friday’s Supreme Court decision, the list of financial institutions opting to cover out-of-state travel for employee abortions has grown — to include, most recently, Jefferies.
“Jefferies will, of course, join other businesses around the U.S. that will cover any employee-partner’s costs should she decide to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy and be forced to do so in a state other than the one in which she lives,” CEO Rich Handler and President Brian Friedman said in a statement Monday seen by Bloomberg.
The two executives said they would also donate $1 million in total to charities that promote women’s rights, according to the wire service.
Wells Fargo, for its part, also said it would reimburse employees and their dependents for travel and lodging costs associated with traveling more than 50 miles for healthcare services, such as abortions, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
Citi, meanwhile, has doubled down on its earlier promise of support.
“While we are still assessing the impact of the Supreme Court decision and are aware that some states may enact new legislation regarding reproductive rights, we will continue to provide benefits that support our colleagues’ family planning choices wherever we are legally permitted to do so,” Sara Wechter, the bank’s human resources chief, told employees in a memo Friday seen by Bloomberg.
JPMorgan said it would roll out a number of other health benefits starting July 1, including cyropreservation and new benefits for LGBTQ workers, according to CNBC. The New York City-based bank announced the benefits in a memo June 1, after Politico reported in May on a leaked initial draft majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, holding that Roe should be overturned.
“Our health care plans have historically covered travel benefits for certain covered services that would require travel,” the bank posted on a frequently asked questions section of an internal web page seen by CNBC. “Beginning in July, we will expand this benefit to include all covered services that can only be obtained far from your home, which would include legal abortion.”
As many as 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion, Reuters estimated after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe.
Bank of America pledged it would expand its reimbursement policies to include out-of-state travel for abortion procedures, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg.
“This step is fully consistent with our long-term, well-established approach to ensuring our benefits programs align and respond to the broad-ranging health-care needs of our employees and their families,” the bank wrote.
Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, told employees it would extend its “health-care travel reimbursement policies to include all medical procedures, treatments and evaluations, including abortion services and gender-affirming care where a provider is not available in proximity to where our people live,” according to Bloomberg.
Payment networks and foreign-based banks have chimed in, too. American Express told Bloomberg on Friday its U.S. health plans already cover abortions and provide for travel expenses if needed.
Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, is expanding employee medical coverage and will begin to cover travel costs for staff seeking abortions up to a defined distance, including across state borders, an anonymous source told the wire service.
