Lyft, Uber to cover legal fees of drivers sued under Texas law

Ride-hailing services Lyft and Uber have reportedly agreed to cover the legal fees of drivers that were sued under the controversial anti-abortion law in Texas. The new law has been passed just recently by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and deems the abortion of fetuses after six weeks, illegal.

The law has been receiving mixed reviewing, considering as how many women are not aware of their pregnancy until after six weeks. Moreover, the law also doesn’t make any exceptions for incest or rape.

A Restrictive And Unfair Law?

Under the terms of the law, private citizens across the country can sue anyone found to be “aiding or abetting abortions” over six weeks into the pregnancy. This includes clinics, anyone paying for the abortion, and even people who drive others to such procedures.

Coming forward to aid their drivers who stand a chance of being sued under the new law, Lyft co-founder and CEO Logan Green has tweeted that the legislation is “an attack” on the access that women have to healthcare, as well as their “right to choose.” The company is apparently creating a “driver legal defense fund,” which will cover 100 percent of the legal fees brought upon drivers, should they ever be sued under the anti-abortion law.

Image Credits: Interview Query

Lyft has also announced that it will be donating a sum of $1 million to Planned Parenthood, in a bid to ensure that “transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access.”

Following this news, Uber CEO Dara Khoshrowshahi also announced similar plans for his own company. Quoting Green’s tweet, he thanked Lyft for “the push,” while adding that Uber too, will be covering the legal fees of its drivers in a similar way. He said that drivers don’t deserve to be penalized for taking people wherever they wish to go.

Relief Funds For Women’s Rights

Prior to this, Tinder parent Match Group, and Bumble, announced that they will be setting up a relief fund to help women seeking to get an abortion done. The former’s CEO Shar Dubey has said that even though her company generally refrains from taking a political stance, in this particular instance, she, herself being a woman, “could not keep quiet.”

This comes even as pressure has been building up on companies in Texas to take a stand against the issue, especially after the State’s Supreme Court refused to halt the law late this week.

Source: The Verge