The U.S. Supreme Court Friday morning struck down a woman’s right to an abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade, which became law 50 years ago.
The court voted 5 to 4 to overturn Roe v Wade. The ruling does not make abortion illegal but does not make it a constitutional right. That allows states to pass laws banning abortion.
Texas’ trigger law automatically bans most abortions in the state. It goes into effect 30 days after the U.S. Supreme Court issues its judgment. Attorney General Paxton also released an official advisory setting forth Texas law in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.
In Austin, hundreds of people marched to the Texas Capitol building to protest and celebrate the ban on abortion. Other protests and celebrations occurred at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of Texas companies see “restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence, and economic stability of our workers and customers,” according to a statement by Don’t Ban Equality. The statement was created in 2019 in response to the trend of states restricting access to abortion. To date, more than 350 business leaders have signed the statement.
Don’t Ban Equality in Texas was created when S.B. 8 was passed in Texas in 2021. At that time, more than 60 companies denounced the law’s stringent restrictions and railed in support of access to abortion care.
Austin technology companies backing Don’t Ban Equality Texas include OJO Labs, WP Engine, Bumble, Capital Factory, Spot Insurance, QuestionPro, Thinktiv and others.
“When S.B. 8 was enacted in Texas in 2021, more than 60 companies once again stood in solidarity to support access to abortion care and denounce the law’s stringent restrictions,” according to the organization.. “Now, as Roe has been overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the corporate community must rally again. Following the Court’s decision to strike Roe down, 24 states have laws on the books that could outright ban or severely limit access to abortion for tens of millions of women, and only 14 states have passed laws that would explicitly protect the right to abortion.”
On Twitter, Max Hoberman, founder and CEO of Certain Affinity, a gaming company based in Austin, showed a letter he sent to his employees offering to pay for them to relocate to a state that provides comprehensive reproductive care.
“As a business leader it’s exceptionally difficult to navigate highly politicized issues like transgender and abortion rights. But I’m not content to sit back and say or do nothing,” Hoberman wrote.
“The economic losses from existing abortion restrictions, including labor force impact and earnings, already cost the State of Texas an estimated $14.5 billion annually,” according to Don’t Ban Equality. “Nationally, state-level restrictions cost state economies $105 billion dollars per year.”