The Supreme Court handed down a decision on Friday, 24 June 2022, in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned the 1973 Roe V. Wade decision that legalized abortion throughout the United States. For non-healthcare businesses, this shouldn’t affect your daily operations, but people are talking, and their focus may be somewhere other than work.
For HR departments, you may want to act immediately–one way or another. Unless your job is politically based, keep in mind what is outside your scope of practice. Here are three things to consider:
To keep reading, click here: 3 Things for HR to Consider After the Dobbs Decision
The only thing a workplace needs to worry about for this decision is how your specific geographic location rules on it being an allowed covered condition under any healthcare plans in your location. Hopefully, also your healthcare plan covers preventive pregnancy coverage in their offerings regardless of gender. Other than the checking of those details, HR has nothing else in response to the rulling.
Yeah why should HR worry at all about supporting women in their company who now live in “if you are raped you keep the baby” States. They definitely shouldn’t feel a moral obligation to offer support like travel reimbursement for life saving medical treatments. Nooooo. Just double check your health plans and wash your hands of it.
Ignore the women who miscarry too, since those outlawed procedures are exactly the same. Don’t worry about offering legal aid to defend spurious lawsuits that your miscarriage Misinopril prescription was actually for an abortion. Don’t bother to offer relocation assistance to your offices in abortion friendly states. If some of your women employees die from lack of healthcare who cares? Not your problem.
I live in Texas. It currently has a ban on abortions after 6 weeks’ gestation, that is enforced by private citizens who can sue for up to $10,000.00 from anyone violating the ban, including anyone assisting someone who violates it. That would include supportive family and friends, and even an Uber driver taking someone to a medical appointment, not to mention the obvious medical professionals. Some businesses have declared their support for employees needing abortions that would require them to travel to another state, making such companies natural targets for the self-appointed vigilante “abortion police.” I expect that HR will need to address that issue too.
As a woman who now lives in a state where if I am raped I will have to keep the baby no exceptions not even 6 weeks leeway, I’m disgusted by this article and the lack of response from otherwise diverse and inclusive companies.
I work for a global company with offices all around the US and world. When certain states came out as harsh on trans rights there was an immediate response, the company made it clear they support gender identity, offered to assist with travel for gender reaffirming medical services, as well as resources for finding equivalent roles in different states if you felt your safety was at risk.
But Roe is overturned, several of their offices now reside in force rape victims to remain pregnant states with buzz about adding bounty hunter laws similar to TX and all you and my company can muster is “realize people have different feelings about this don’t forget we have EAP”.
Pathetic.
Oh and btw, these laws hurt women who miscarry as well. I’ve never gotten an abortion, but had the misfortune of 2nd trimester miscarriage and I nearly died trying to give birth to the dead fetus because my town is so vehemently anti abortion the local hospital was scarred to offer D&C’s for fear the community would think they are abortions. We are already seeing providers and pharmacies in TX pull back on even offering Misinopril which is vital for women who have miscarried and are not naturally passing the fetus or placenta (which was the treatment I had and still nearly died). Failure to pass the miscarriage is deadly. Sepsis can set in and result in death rapidly.
But yeah let’s pretend that a minority of christian/catholic republicans right to not have their feelings hurt for calling them out for the misogynist murderers they are is just as important as a company making sure their female employees don’t die uneccsary deaths from limiting lifesaving procedures that “look like abortions”