Walmart Promises to Pay for Employees to Have Abortions

Walmart will pay for employees to have abortions, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reports that health plans at the nation’s largest employer — which is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas — will pay for employees’ abortions “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability.”

“Health exceptions” for abortion are notoriously vague. In the past, courts have interpreted them as effectively permitting abortion on demand in many cases. That is part of the reason why Arkansas’ abortion laws do not include health exceptions. Arkansas prohibits abortion except when the mother’s life is at risk, but the law contains specific exceptions for ectopic pregnancy as well.

The AP notes that Walmart’s new health plan will also pay for employees’ travel expenses for abortion — meaning that Walmart would pay for a woman in Arkansas to travel to a state like California for an abortion.

Unfortunately, this is just the latest example of Walmart championing a liberal agenda.

In 2015 the company opposed legislation protecting religious freedom in Arkansas.

In 2021 Walmart opposed legislation protecting healthcare workers’ rights of conscience, and the company supported so-called “hate crimes” measures creating special protected classes of citizens in Arkansas.

The Walton Family Foundation has opposed Arkansas’ SAFE Act that protects children from sex-reassignment procedures, and it has budgeted $1 million for grants to pro-LGBT groups in Arkansas. The Walton Family Foundation technically is separate from Walmart, but still very closely related, because the Waltons are such large shareholders in the company.

Since 1973, abortion has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Arkansans. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed Roe v. Wade and given states the ability to restrict or prohibit abortion, companies like Walmart are using their money and influence to promote abortion to their employees. That is simply tragic.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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