Firms Keep Quiet on Texas’ New Abortion Regulation

On Friday, some Silicon Valley tech companies also began speaking out.

Lyft CEO Logan Green said the company will pay legal fees for any drivers brought to justice under the law. “TX SB8 threatens to punish drivers for taking people where they need to go – especially women exercising their right to vote,” he wrote on Twitter.

Uber boss Dara Khosrowshahi said on Twitter that his company will also cover the legal costs of its drivers.

And Jeremy Stoppelman, the executive director of Yelp, made a statement. “The effective abortion ban in Texas not only violates women’s rights to reproductive health care, but also endangers their health and safety,” he said. “We are deeply concerned about how this law will affect our employees in the state.”

A few executives tried to strike a middle ground, cheering for democracy and speaking out against discrimination while keeping silent about Texan law.

Mr Musk, who said he moved to Texas and invested heavily in the state through Tesla and SpaceX, was among them. “In general, I believe the government should seldom impose its will on the people while trying to maximize their cumulative happiness,” he wrote on Twitter in response to Abbott’s comments. “But I’d rather stay out of politics.”

Houston-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise declined to comment on the ban, but said the company “encourages our team members to get involved in the political process where they live and work and cast their voices through advocacy and on to make the voting booths heard ”.

A company spokesman added that its medical plan would allow employees to request abortions outside of the state and would pay for accommodation for such a trip.

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