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By Yashasvini Razdan, 5:00 PM ET
Ride-hailing firm, Lyft announced that it would cover legal fees for drivers on its platform who are sued under Texas’ restrictive abortion law that went into effect this week.
A Texas law bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. It went into effect this Wednesday despite the Supreme Court’s decision that established a constitutional right to the procedure.
The law may not necessarily allow patients to be sued under it, but people assisting the procedure, including doctors, people paying for the procedure, and clinic workers are at risk. That includes rideshare drivers who can be punished for transporting women to clinics to receive abortions, where they could be fined $10,000.
In a press release, the company said that drivers were not liable to monitor where their riders go or for what reason. “Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you are breaking the law by giving someone a ride. Similarly, riders never have to justify, or even share, where they are going and why. Imagine being a pregnant woman trying to get to a healthcare appointment and not knowing if your driver will cancel on you for fear of breaking a law. Both are completely unacceptable,” it stated.
Lyft has created a Driver Legal Defense Fund to cover 100% of legal fees for its drivers sued under the Texas abortion law.
The company stated that the law was an attack on women’s right to choose. The ride-hailing firm is donating $1 million to Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides sexual health care in the United States and globally.
While most businesses are choosing to stay mum about the Texas abortion law, companies such as Bumble and Match, which are Texas-based dating companies’, announced relief funds. CEO Shar Dubey announced in a memo to employees that she would personally create a fund to support Texas-based workers and dependents who needed to seek care outside of the state.
(With inputs from CNBC)
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