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“Our President and CEO, John Zimmer and Logan Green, reached out and said, ‘What can we do about this? “” Elevator (ELEVATOR) General Counsel Kristin Sverchek told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Monday. “Very quickly we decided we wanted to act.”
The company had started hearing from drivers concerned that they could be prosecuted under the new law. Texas law prohibits abortion providers from performing abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks pregnant. It also allows individuals to bring civil action against anyone, not just caregivers, who “aids or encourages” a restricted abortion, which legal experts say could include carpool drivers who drive a person. to an abortion procedure the driver knows is happening.
“We both wanted to strongly support the right of women to choose, as well as make our pilots feel good,” said Sverchek. “We didn’t want them to be in this untenable position of not knowing whether their behavior was right or not.”
Friday, Green, CEO of Lyft,
announcement that the company would create a legal defense fund to protect any driver who is prosecuted under the law for driving someone who has had an abortion. Soon after,
Uber (UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi followed suit and said his company would offer similar protections to its drivers.
Rideshare companies are among a shortlist of other companies that have pushed back against the law; they also include Match Group, which the CEO has said will create a fund to help employees access out-of-state abortion care if needed, and GoDaddy, a web hosting service that has removed a website that allowed people to post advice on possible abortions in Texas. .
In the days after the Texas law came into effect, leaders of other Republican-controlled states have already signaled that they may try to introduce similar legislation.
Lyft plans to provide similar financial support to drivers in other states if similar laws are passed elsewhere, Sverchek said. The company also announced that it will donate $ 1 million to Planned Parenthood.
Sverchek called on the rest of US businesses to take a stand against the legislation and said Lyft decided to take action knowing “we’re going to lose customers because of this.”
“Abortion is a constitutionally protected right, so I’m happy to see us here speaking and hope more American businesses will,” she said. “Now, that said, governments should also pass fair legislation and not seek to inappropriately prohibit a constitutional right like they have here. But I think it’s important for American businesses to hold government accountable and speak out on important issues. “
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