Air travelers walk toward a Lyft pickup area at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on August 20, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Lyft said Friday it would cover legal fees for drivers on its platform who are sued under Texas’ restrictive abortion law that went into effect this week.
The law bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a time period before many women have even discovered they’re pregnant.
Patients may not be sued, but people aiding the procedure, including doctors, drivers and clinic workers are at risk. That includes rideshare drivers who can be punished for transporting women to clinics to receive abortions, where they could be fined $10,000.
“This is an attack on women’s access to healthcare and on their right to choose,” Lyft CEO Logan Green said in a tweet Friday.
It’s the first rideshare company to speak out on the issue. Uber, Lyft’s main competitor, did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment this week.
Lyft said its defense fund would cover 100% of legal fees incurred by drivers because of the law. The company will also donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood.
“TX SB8 threatens to punish drivers for getting people where they need to go— especially women exercising their right to choose,” Green said in the tweet.
