Walmart, largest U.S. private employer, expands abortion coverage for staff

Walmart’s top human resources officer said in an internal memo that the new benefits are effective immediately.

A trigger ban on abortions — with the exception of when the life of the mother is at risk — took effect in Arkansas after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, which had established a fundamental right to the procedure. About 53 percent of Walmart’s employees in the United States are women. It operates more than 2,000 stores in states that have either banned abortion or imposed near-total restrictions on the procedure.

Last year, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed the trigger ban into law, though he said earlier this month that he supports exceptions for rape and incest. There was no immediate reaction to Walmart’s move by senior GOP leaders in Arkansas, though the move was criticized by some antiabortion activists.

Other companies that have offered support to employees seeking to terminate a pregnancy include Disney, which employs some 80,000 people in Florida, a state with a near-total ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Dick’s Sporting Goods has said it will reimburse employees up to $4,000 in travel expenses to the nearest location where abortion is legal. Lyft and JPMorgan, as well as Walmart competitors Target and CVS, have made similar moves.

Walmart and the Walton family — the descendants of company’s founder and owners of a large stake in the retailer — have a history of supporting conservative causes and politicians. Walmart donated two to three times more to the GOP than the Democratic Party in many electoral cycles before 2008, according to the Open Secrets campaign finance watchdog.

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In recent years, the retail giant and the Walton family have expanded their contributions to include liberal politicians and moderate Republicans. In 2020, Walmart gave comparable sums to Republican and Democratic politicians; that year, the family contributed more to Democratic congressional candidates.

This year’s donations from individual family members to GOP politicians include $17,400 to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who supports abortion rights and recently finished ahead of a candidate backed by former president Donald Trump in a Senate primary. They have also given $250,000 to the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican group.

Walmart was one of dozens of companies that halted donations to lawmakers who voted against the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.