What you need to know
- The U.S. supreme court issued a ruling that effectively overturned Roe v. Wade.
- The ruling removes the federal right for women to have an abortion and hands that decision to the states.
- Google says that it will support employee relocations "without justification."
On Friday, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, removing federal protections for a pregnant woman's right to an abortion. While the decision does not make the procedure illegal on a national level, it leaves it up to the states to implement their own laws, many of which have banned the practice.
In response to the ruling, Google has issued a letter to its employees, urging employees to be respectful and mindful of one another. The letter, which was obtained by The Verge, also states that employees are allowed to relocate "without justification" while encouraging them to seek additional support if necessary.
You can read the full letter below:
Hi everyone,
This morning the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that rolls back Roe v. Wade.
This is a profound change for the country that deeply affects so many of us, especially women. Everyone will respond in their own way, whether that’s wanting space and time to process, speaking up, volunteering outside of work, not wanting to discuss it at all, or something else entirely. Please be mindful of what your co-workers may be feeling and, as always, treat each other with respect.
Equity is extraordinarily important to us as a company, and we share concerns about the impact this ruling will have on people’s health, lives, and careers. We will keep working to make information on reproductive healthcare accessible across our products and continue our work to protect user privacy.
To support Googlers and their dependents, our US benefits plan and health insurance covers out-of-state medical procedures that are not available where an employee lives and works. Googlers can also apply for relocation without justification, and those overseeing this process will be aware of the situation. If you need additional support, please connect 1:1 with a People Consultant via [link to internal tool redacted].
We will be arranging support sessions for Googlers in the US in the coming days. These will be posted to Googler News.
Please don’t hesitate to lean on your Google community in the days ahead and continue to take good care of yourselves and each other.
Android Central has reached out to Google for any additional comments and will update this article upon receiving a response.
Many other tech companies have rallied in support of employees. Amazon has previously stated that it would reimburse employees who have to travel for certain medical procedures and treatments (via Reuters). Meta was not immediately available for a response, but the company informed Variety that it would also provide travel reimbursements "to the extent of the law."
