The transportation company Lyft is the second major business to face a civil rights complaint this month for allegedly discriminating against pregnant employees who chose life for their unborn babies.
First, Dick’s Sporting Goods and, now, Lyft are accused of violating the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act by providing abortion travel reimbursements to pregnant employees while not offering similar benefits to employees who choose to parent.
According to Breitbart, the conservative legal group America First Legal filed a complaint against Lyft on Thursday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
“The company’s decision to provide ‘coverage for an elective abortion and reimbursement for travel costs’—which is properly classified both as compensation and/or as a privilege of employment—to a pregnant woman who chooses to abort her child, while denying any equivalent compensation or benefit to a pregnant woman who chooses life, facially violates the statute,” the legal group told the EEOC.
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Lyft is one of dozens of major companies that began providing new pro-abortion benefits in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade this summer. The transportation company offers insurance that covers elective abortions as well as a new reimbursement “for travel costs if an employee must travel more than 100 miles for an in-network provider” for an elective abortion, Breitbart reports.
Because Lyft does not provide a equivalent benefit to pregnant employees who choose life, America First Legal said the company appears to be violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
“Lyft has engaged in egregious violations of federal civil rights law,” by discriminating against pregnant mothers, AFL president Stephen Miller said in a statement. “This … pregnancy-based discrimination is flatly, manifestly illegal — and thus we are today filing this federal civil rights complaint.”
The legal group filed a similar complaint against Dick’s Sporting Goods earlier this month with the EEOC. Dick’s recently began offering up to $4,000 for travel expenses for an employee, their spouse or dependents to have an abortion.
Major entertainment companies like Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Netflix and tech giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft also now offer their employees money to travel to abort their unborn babies. The grocery store chains Giant Eagle and Kroger said they will begin paying employees’ travel costs for abortions, too.
Earlier this summer, a legal expert predicted that these companies may face lawsuits in an interview with Reuters. According to the report:
It is likely only a matter of time before companies face lawsuits from states or anti-abortion campaigners claiming that abortion-related payments violate state bans on facilitating or aiding and abetting abortions, according to Robin Fretwell Wilson, a law professor at the University of Illinois and expert on healthcare law.
“If you can sue me as a person for carrying your daughter across state lines, you can sue Amazon for paying for it,” Wilson said.
Most companies couched their pro-abortion stance in terms of “health care,” claiming women need abortions to be healthy and free. But these companies are encouraging the elective, unnecessary killing of unborn babies in abortions through these new benefits.
What women and their babies need is real support, and pro-life advocates are striving to provide it. Along with passing the heartbeat law last year, Texas state lawmakers also increased support for pregnant and parenting mothers and babies, ensuring that they have resources to choose life for their babies. Other pro-life advocates across the U.S. also are working to expand support services for families in need, through pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and even pregnant and parenting mothers in prison.
