Starbucks To Pay Travel Expenses For Employees’ Abortion Or Gender Affirmation Treatments

Starbucks will foot the bill for staff needing to access abortion and gender-confirmation procedures if those services aren’t available within 100 miles of a worker’s home.

In a letter to staff, Starbucks unveiled the plan in the wake of a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that would see nationwide abortion rights abolished in the US.

The travel benefit will be available to dependents of any employee who is enrolled in their health care plan, the Seattle Times reported.

Starbucks acting executive vice president of partner resources Sara Kelly lashed out at the pending Supreme Court decision in her letter to employees.

"Regardless of what the Supreme Court ends up deciding, we will always ensure our partners have access to quality health care," she said.

In the U.S - Starbucks will pay for employees to access abortion or gender-confirmation procedures if those services aren't available ~160 kms of an employee's home. Comes after a leaked draft opinion from US Supreme Court suggesting it abolish nationwide right to abortion. pic.twitter.com/TROub7OwOW

— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) May 17, 2022

Amazon unveiled a similar plan on May 2, telling staff that it will pay up to $4,000 ($AUD 5,731, £3,245) in annual travel expenses for non-life threatening medical treatments including abortions.

Amazon will cover travel costs if staff are unable to secure treatment within 100 miles of their own home, Reuters reports.

The two major US companies are not alone in implementing new health care benefits. They join the swelling ranks of other big name-brands adding extra measures for staff in the wake of the leaked draft opinion.

Tesla, Bumble, Levi Strauss, Apple, Yelp, and Citigroup have already offered similar programs to their employees.

In the leaked 67-page draft, first reported on by Politico, Justice Alito stated that Roe was 'egregiously wrong and deeply damaging' in ruling in favour of the nationwide right to abortions.

If the law is abolished it will mean the decision will then sit with the states to provide access to safe methods of terminating a pregnancy.

Here for the protest in front of Supreme Court Justice Alito’s house.

When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back! #BansOffOurBodies pic.twitter.com/2pRy3nJlg2

— FederalFelonMouse (she/her) (@LiteraryMouse) May 9, 2022

This would mean conservative states in the US - specifically Southern and Midwestern states - could impose strict abortion bans on women and even block them from receiving an abortion, regardless of circumstance.

The explosive leak has sparked protests in the cities of New York, Boston, Nashville, Dallas, New Orleans and San Francisco, and outside the Supreme Court itself.

Chants of 'abortion is healthcare' could be heard at a recent rally outside the US Supreme Court.

Signs were also carried, that read 'Justices get out of my vagina', 'Legal abortion once and for all', and 'We won’t go back'.

Hacking collective Anonymous have also warned US lawmakers over voting in favour of the Republican-backed decision, telling America to 'expect us'.

The final ruling of the court will be made in June.