Although indicated for weeks following the unprecedent leak of Supreme Court documents in May, today's official ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court is causing an uproar. Studios plan to provide support to employees who need abortion access.
In the wake of the leaked documents and today's ruling, many studios and networks have announced plans to help employees who may now have to travel out of their home states to seek reproductive healthcare with travel reimbursement. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount's plans include access to up to $10,000 in travel reimbursement for "cancer treatment, transplants, gender affirming care, or abortion" during the lifetime of their employment.
The Walt Disney Company joined those studios today in a major move considering the studio's recent public animosity with the governor of Florida over the state's anti-gay legislation. Variety reports that in a message to employees Friday, the studio will continue to provide comprehensive access to quality and affordable care, including travel benefits to allow them to seek similar levels of care in another location.
Disney had planned to relocate employees from its Parks, Experiences, and Products Division to the state by 2023, but recently decided to delay that move. There was a delayed public response to the "Don't Say Gay" bill, which forbids "classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity" in vaguely described "age-inappropriate" manners. There will be restrictions on access to in-state care in the wake of today's ruling, but it is not known if there will be further restrictions on access.
Major companies in the entertainment industry have made the decision to support employees in need of healthcare rights as the Supreme Court moves to deny them, but access to what has been a fundamental right in the United States for multiple generations. The ruling is not the end of abortion access in the country as a whole, it is an end to equitable and safe access to reproductive healthcare for millions With the end of the abortion law, people will face life threatening dangers that they did not have to face before. Losing a fundamental human right will cause people to die unnecessarily.
If you want to read more about what you can do to support abortion funds in the U.S., please check out the links below.
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