When the constitutional right to abortion vanished, Kim Malek, the CEO of Salt & Straw Ice Cream, acted quickly. Within hours, the Portland-based company promised to pay travel expenses for employees who need to leave their home states to access abortion.
Salt & Straw has about 100 workers at scoop shops in Florida, where a contested state law bans most abortions after 15 weeks.
“These sorts of restrictions put women’s health in jeopardy, for a lot of different reasons,” Malek said. “So, we sort of leapt in the deep end, knowing that we would figure it out as we go along.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a flurry of businesses announced they would cover travel costs for employees who face abortion bans or restrictions at home. Oregon heavyweights Nike, Adidas, and Columbia Sportswear all pledged to support employees seeking abortion.
So how will this work?
Who would a Nike salesperson in Alabama need to go through to access an abortion? Could Columbia be sued for helping a worker in Texas? The large companies declined to go into further detail.
But two smaller Oregon companies, with fewer resources, agreed to share their decision-making as they navigate a patchwork of abortion bans and restrictions.
At Salt &...
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