(LifeSiteNews) – Walmart told its employees on Friday that it will now cover the cost of abortion and related travel expenses in cases up until the point of “fetal viability.”
The health care plans of the largest private employer in the U.S. will now pay for abortion “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability,” according to an internal memo, as reported by CNBC.
The company will also pay the cost of travel for an abortion if an employee or their family member who is insured through Walmart cannot legally obtain one within 100 miles of their residence.
While the point of fetal viability is not clear-cut, and has shifted down in recent years due to technological advances, medical consensus now sets it at 23-24 weeks. The great majority of abortions are performed well before the period of viability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Walmart’s decision echoes similar moves to cover the cost of abortion-related travel expenses, if not the cost of abortion itself, by major corporations such as Amazon, Apple, CVS Health, Starbucks, Nike, Disney, and Mastercard, in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s reversal.
1.6 million Walmart employees will soon be pressured into supporting and seeking abortions thanks to Walmart’s new initiative pouring financial incentives into abortion-specific travel.
According to CNBC, Walmart employees “and their family members who are insured through Walmart” will have abortion travel costs covered “if they cannot access a legal abortion within 100 miles of their location.”
This is horrifying news, because this means that low-income workers will have virtually no excuse to refuse Walmart’s new abortion-related accommodations.
Walmart expands abortion coverage for its employees in the wake of Roe v Wade decision https://t.co/dtheFTcf07
— CNBC (@CNBC) August 19, 2022
Notice that Walmart is also making abortion virtually inescapable, funding abortion-travel when it's not accessible within a 100-mile radius. As a result, every female employee will be forced to at least consider seeking an abortion.
Walmart's expanding abortion coverage also includes any instance "when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability.” This seems limited, but it’s actually an expansion of abortion coverage that is the beginning of a very dangerous slippery slope.
This is because the same CNBC report notes that Walmart “previously offered more limited abortion coverage.”
Expansions are continuing in stages, with Walmart targeting their most vulnerable employees who find themselves in life’s darkest, most difficult moments.
Walmart is going to cover abortion care for 1.6 million employees🔥
— Ariana Afshar (she/her) (@progressivebrat) August 19, 2022
There is no private company who currently employs more Americans in the nation than Walmart, and whose abortion coverage will impact more people.
But this means that the American voice is represented in every Walmart store, proving that now is our chance to make that voice heard.
Will you help our fellow Americans raise their voice against pro-abortion Walmart, and push back againast Walmart's war on the pro-life movement?
We cannot miss this moment. With Roe v. Wade officially struck down, it’s now up to us to change the pro-life culture at the state level — but also at the private level.
We cannot have a pro-life culture if private companies are still actively funding abortion!
Stand with America’s employees who are fighting for life at America’s biggest employer: “We the consumers are demanding accountability from you. Stop Walmart's abortion expansion now.”
SIGN TODAY!
Walmart previously covered the cost of abortions only in the case that the health of the mother “would be in danger” if she carried her child to term, or in the case that the child “could not survive the birthing process, or death would be imminent after birth,” according to the company’s employee handbook.
Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer who sent the email memo announcing the new policy, said the company made changes to its healthcare plans after “listening to our associates about what’s important to them.”
The mega-corporation is also launching a “center for fertility services,” and multiplying its financial support for adoptions, from $5,000 to $20,000, the memo revealed.
The world’s largest company by revenue, Walmart locations practically blanket the U.S., with 90 percent of Americans living within 10 miles of one of its more than 4,700 stores. Its headquarters are located in Arkansas, where abortion is now banned in all cases except those necessary to save the life of the mother.