Amazon will refund employees in the United States who have to travel for various medical treatments, including those who intend to have an abortion.
The company has sent a message to its employees that it pays up to $ 4,000 a year in travel expenses for medical treatments not available near the workplace.
This is not the first company to do this. Recently, several U.S. companies have announced plans to guarantee their employees access to abortion.
The move comes amid growing restrictions in practice across the country.
The new Amazon benefits will take effect January 1 this year.
According to a Reuters news agency, the new benefits will apply to treatments that are not available within 161km of an employee’s home and are inaccessible to online maintenance options.
An Amazon spokeswoman confirmed the BBC News coverage of the benefits, which include inpatient treatment, oncology, congenital anomalies up to 24 months after birth, psychiatric treatments and inpatient services for complex use.
With 1.1 million full-time and part-time employees, Amazon is one of the largest private employers in the United States. It employs people across the country — mostly California, Texas and the state of Washington, the company’s global headquarters.
Benefits are available to all employees enrolled in the two different health plans offered by the company, including those who work in offices or warehouses.
The company also offers up to $ 10,000 for emergency and life-threatening medical treatment.
Legal struggles
While the expansion of Amazon’s benefits is not specifically aimed at enabling access to abortion, this comes at a time when many GOP-led state governments have enacted laws restricting access to abortion within their jurisdiction.
Next month, the now-conservative US Supreme Court will rule on a case that could overturn the 1973 court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.
If the law is repealed, each U.S. state may be allowed to set its own rules regarding abortion. If that happens, it is predicted that more than 20 states will somehow reduce attention to the procedure or in most cases ban abortion.
In Texas – one of the strictest abortion laws in the country and prohibits practice after six weeks of pregnancy – a recent study found that approximately 1,400 women go out of state for abortion each month.
Companies such as Yelp and Citigroup have recently announced that they will be reimbursing traveling staff to avoid local restrictions on abortion.
Citigroup said the policy was “in response to changes in reproductive health laws in certain states.”
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