JPMorgan, Goldman, BofA to Cover Abortion Travel for Workers (1) – Bloomberg Law

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG and American Express Co. will pay for employees to travel to another state if needed to obtain a legal abortion.

JPMorgan’s benefit will go into effect July 1, according to a frequently-asked-questions page linked to a memo to all US employees earlier this month — the same day the policy changes at Goldman and Bank of America. Deutsche Bank is also expanding employee medical coverage and will begin to cover travel costs for staff seeking abortions up to a defined distance, including across state borders, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Read more: Big Employers Say They’ll Pay for Abortions After Roe Reversal

The banks join companies including Citigroup Inc. in paying for travel expenses for workers seeking to end pregnancies outside of states with restrictive abortion laws.

“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, head of human resources at New York-based Citigroup, said in a memo to employees Friday.

The US Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, wiping out the constitutional right to abortion in a historic ruling that is likely to render the procedure largely illegal in half the country. Bloomberg News reported in May that JPMorgan and rival Goldman were discussing extending abortion benefits to cover travel.

“Our health-care plans have historically covered travel benefits for certain covered services that would require travel,” JPMorgan said in the FAQ page, which CNBC reported earlier Friday. “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.”

New York-based Goldman said in a memo to its employees that it will 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.”

Bank of America, in a memo to employees, said it’s expanding the list of medical treatments eligible for travel expense reimbursement to services including reproductive health care.

“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,” Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America said in the memo.

American Express said its US health plans already cover abortions and provide for travel expenses if needed, according to an emailed statement.

Read more: Citi to Cover Worker Abortion Travel as States Limit Access

(Updates with AmEx starting in first paragraph.)

–With assistance from Sridhar Natarajan and Max Abelson.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Hannah Levitt in New York at hlevitt@bloomberg.net;
Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell at sbakewell1@bloomberg.net

Daniel Taub, Dan Reichl

Source: news.bloomberglaw.com