In today’s edition: a lawsuit against Match Group, Gov. Whitmer’s meeting with Trump, and how one progressive company benefit has survived the second Trump era.
– Still going. For months now, I’ve been wondering about something. Remember all the employee benefits companies instituted in 2022 after the reversal of Roe v. Wade? In the Trump 2.0 era, have businesses quietly sunset those benefits? If they haven’t, how on earth have they been able to keep them going when even some women’s ERGs haven’t been able to survive this presidential term?
My colleague Lila MacLellan looked into that question for Fortune. She found that most companies that said they would cover travel costs for out-of-state abortions still are, on paper, paying those costs. That mostly has to do with how they structured the benefits.
The key is that these benefits are no longer just for abortion. Companies have written these policies to cover travel costs for any health care procedure that is not available in an employee’s home state. This makes these policies less of a target—and means employees could get costs covered for other procedures with an uncertain political future, like fertility treatments or gender-affirming care.
Another reason these benefits haven’t been a target, however, is that they may not be used that much—so anti-abortion activists have invested their efforts elsewhere. Employees, understandably, may be reluctant to turn in receipts and records to their employer or a third-party provider for something that could make them a legal target.
Lila did some great reporting on this. She found that 20 major companies confirmed their commitment to covering costs of abortion-related travel in 2022. Five—Citi, JPMorgan, HPE, Levi’s, and Yelp—definitively still have those benefits in place, while the other 15 won’t confirm one way or the other. I encourage you to read her full story here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Swiping safely? Amid signs of a turnaround at Tinder and growth for Hinge, a new lawsuit alleges Match Group knew which users have been accused of sexual assault or harassment. Since the publication of a bombshell media report earlier this year, Match hasn't yet produced a report it promised. Match didn't comment on the suit but previously said it "vigorously combats violence." Fortune
- Not so funny. Over the past two weeks, WNBA games have been interrupted by sex toys thrown on the court. What at first seemed to be a joke may be linked to a cryptocurrency scheme—and is an attempt to pull women's sports back to the days when they often felt like the butt of a joke. The Athletic
- Michigan meeting. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met with President Trump to warn him about the impact tariffs are having on her state, especially within the auto industry. Economic distress could impact voters' choices in the key swing state. Fortune
ON MY RADAR
Can a shaving company teach Girl Scouts about confidence? Business of Fashion
I’m a VC founder and mother to five Gen Z kids. My listening tour of 50 young adults shows a hunger to work hard and rewrite the American Dream Fortune
Nvidia's quiet rising stars? The son and daughter of billionaire founder Jensen Huang The Information
PARTING WORDS
"There are some people who just want to believe the worst possible account of everything I say and do. And I don’t like that. But I think I’ve come to terms with it."
—Nicola Sturgeon, the former Scottish political leader. Her new book tells the story of the messy end of her political career.
