Earlier this week, the state of Texas passed SB8, a law that represents the most extreme regulation on abortion anywhere in the United States. Later this week, a majority of Supreme Court justices allowed it to proceed. The implications of the law, which allows private lawsuits against anyone who has performed an abortion or “aided and abetted” an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, are both staggering and ominous.
As Ian Millhiser noted at Vox, the way that the law is worded could result in “parties who have exceedingly loose ties to an abortion clinic” also being targeted in lawsuits. This means that a taxi or rideshare driver who transported someone to get an abortion in their eighth week of pregnancy could be sued as a result.
Now, the country’s two most prominent rideshare companies have pushed back against the law. As Sean O’Kane reported at The Verge, Lyft CEO Logan Green and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi both took to Twitter to voice their concerns over SB8. Each announced that they would cover the legal fees of any drivers who were sued as a result of SB8.
Green also spoke out against the law in general. “This is an attack on women’s access to healthcare and on their right to choose,” he wrote. “@Lyft is donating $1 million to Planned Parenthood to ensure that transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access. We encourage other companies to join us.”
A few have. As The Verge’s article notes, Bumble and Match Group have also started an abortion relief fund, for one thing. Will more be on the way?
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