Wells Fargo & Co. said Monday it will reimburse transportation and lodging costs for employees who must travel more than 50 miles for an abortion, joining three other major banks in offering such a policy.
The policy goes into effect Friday.
“Wells Fargo employees have access to a national network of healthcare professionals who provide medical care to meet their diverse needs, no matter the state in which they live,” the bank said in a statement.
Wells Fargo had an overall workforce total of 249,435 as of March 31.
According to a Wells Fargo employee memo obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the expanded healthcare plans will include abortion under “the health care services you or your dependents require” that are “not available within 50 miles from your home.”
Costs covered by the expanded policy are for the insured woman and a companion.
“We are committed to providing benefits that offer a wide variety of medical plans and programs to support you and your loved ones during moments that matter, and want to ensure you have access to quality health care, when you need it, and where you need it,” according to the employee memo.
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According to the Guttmacher Institute, which follows reproductive healthcare legal issues, there are 13 states with “trigger” laws that ban or severely restrict abortions upon the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the 1973 landmark ruling of Roe vs. Wade.
Those trigger laws “take effect automatically or by quick state action,” according to the institute.
Those states are Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Of those states, Wells Fargo has branches and operations in Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
“Some of these 26 states have multiple types of bans in place, including nine states with pre-Roe bans still on the books, and 11 states with early gestational age bans blocked by court orders,” according to the institute.
“In states with multiple bans, state officials will determine which ban to enforce if Roe is overturned.”
Bank of America Corp., Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have similar healthcare policies for abortion coverage, as does Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
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Source: journalnow.com