Comment Walmart is expanding its employee health care plans to cover more cases in which its staff can request an abortion, making the nation’s largest private employer the latest company to offer improved access to reproductive health services after Roe v. Wade overturned. Arkansas-based Walmart, which has 1.6 million employees in the United States, said it would cover abortions “when there is a risk to the mother’s health, rape or incest.” It will also pay for the procedure in case of miscarriage, non-viability of the embryo or ectopic pregnancy, when an embryo implants outside the uterus. The company will provide “travel support” to employees and dependents if they need to access a health service covered by Walmart’s insurance plan, but there is no viable provider within 100 miles of their location. Walmart’s top human resources officer said in an internal memo that the new benefits are effective immediately. A ban on enabling abortions – except when the mother’s life is at risk – went into effect in Arkansas after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe, which had established a fundamental right to due process. About 53 percent of Walmart employees in the United States are women. It operates more than 2,000 stores in states that have either banned abortions or imposed near-total restrictions on the procedure. Last year, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed the trigger ban into law, though he said earlier this month that he supports exceptions for rape and incest. There was no immediate reaction to Walmart’s move from senior GOP leaders in Arkansas, although the move was criticized by some anti-abortion activists. Other companies that have offered support to employees seeking to end a pregnancy include Disney, which employs about 80,000 people in Florida, a state with an almost total ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Dick’s Sporting Goods said it will reimburse employees up to $4,000 in travel expenses to the nearest location where abortion is legal. Lyft and JPMorgan, as well as Walmart rivals Target and CVS, have made similar moves. Walmart and the Walton family — the descendants of the company’s founder and owners of a large stake in the retailer — have a history of supporting conservative causes and policies. Walmart donated two to three times more to the Democratic Party than to the Democratic Party in many election cycles before 2008, according to campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets. Walgreens, CVS and Walmart ordered to pay $650 million in opioid lawsuit In recent years, the retail giant and the Walton family have expanded their contributions to include liberal politicians and moderate Republicans. In 2020, Walmart gave comparable amounts to Republican and Democratic politicians. that year, the family contributed more to Democratic congressional candidates. Individual family members’ donations to GOP politicians include $17,400 to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who supports abortion rights and recently finished ahead of a candidate backed by former President Donald Trump in a Senate primary. They have also given $250,000 to the Lincoln Project, a Republican anti-Trump group. Walmart was one of dozens of companies that stopped donating to lawmakers who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 victory after the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
