WASHINGTON — Justice Department employees pressed the Biden administration on Wednesday to grant federal employees time off if they or their family members need to travel out of state to obtain abortions.
The request puts the administration in a potentially tricky position: either denying a benefit even as several large companies have made accommodations in the area, or granting one that pits it against state governments that restrict access to the procedure.
Members of a group dedicated to gender equity, the Department of Justice Gender Equality Network, sent a letter asking the administration to “swiftly consider” the move two weeks after a leaked draft opinion showed that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Should the court do so in June or early July, about half the states are likely to strictly curb abortion or ban it outright.
Granting leave to employees who must travel to obtain an abortion is akin to the time off that federal employees received to obtain coronavirus vaccinations, the group argued.
“The administration mandated agencies to grant federal employees administrative leave so that they or their family members can obtain Covid-19 vaccinations for their ‘health, safety and physical and mental well-being,’” the group said in the letter. “Likewise, the administration should be able to provide federal workers with a reasonable amount of administrative leave to access reproductive health care for their health, safety and physical and mental...
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