Starbucks Corp. is expanding its U.S. health care benefits to cover travel for abortion and gender-affirming procedures.
Employees and their dependents who don’t have access to those procedures within 100 miles of their home can be reimbursed for eligible travel expenses, Starbucks said Monday in a blog post.
“Like many of you, I’m deeply concerned by the draft Supreme Court opinion related to the constitutional right to abortion that was first established by Roe v. Wade,” said Sara Kelly, acting executive vice president for employee resources, in the blog post.
The Seattle-based coffee chain joins a growing list of companies offering to cover travel expenses for workers seeking abortions and other procedures that aren’t available in their home states.
Starbucks has carefully cultivated its image over years as a progressive company, championing issues such as gay marriage and offering its workers better benefits than other big restaurant operators. Those credentials are being questioned, however, by workers participating in a growing unionization drive that has spread across the company’s U.S. locations.
