People Are Praising Lyft And Uber For Promising To Cover Drivers’ Legal Fees Under Texas’ New Draconian Abortion Law

When Texas’ draconian abortion law went in to effect last week, the federal government didn’t step in to shoot it down. Quite the opposite. The conservative-leaning Supreme Court declared the law — which bans abortions after six weeks and even allows those who help women get the procedure to get sued — to be just fine. But all is not lost. There’s been push-back, from young people finding creative means of dissent. And now even companies are stepping up where lawmakers have failed.

As per NPR, the ride-sharing services Lyft and Uber have both declared that, should any of their drivers find themselves in trouble for driving someone to an abortion clinic, their legal fees will be covered 100%.

“Drivers are never responsible for monitoring where their riders go or why. Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you are breaking the law by giving someone a ride,” Lyft said in a statement. “Similarly, riders never have to justify, or even share, where they are going and why. Imagine being a pregnant woman trying to get to a healthcare appointment and not knowing if your driver will cancel on you for fear of breaking a law. Both are completely unacceptable.”

Lyft CEO Logan Green went one step further, saying the company would donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi followed Lyft’s lead, thanking Green for leading the charge.

The companies’ moves were met with praise on social media.

https://twitter.com/benFranklin2018/status/1433919711146913792

Lyft and Uber weren’t the only companies help combat a heavily restrictive new law. GoDaddy, the internet domain service, announced on Friday that they were giving prolifewhistleblower.com — the online hotline set up by an anti-abortion group to snitch on Texas women getting abortions — 24 hours before they pull the plug. They, too, were singled out for praise.

Of course, Lyft isn’t perfect, as we were reminded this past hellish week.

(Via NPR)