Ride-sharing apps Lyft and Uber have announced that they will cover all the legal fees of any of their drivers who are sued under Texas’s archaic new abortion law.
The law, which went into effect earlier this week, bans abortions in the state after the sixth week of pregnancy.
The restrictive law also aims to penalize those who help a woman obtain an abortion. The law allows private citizens to sue anyone involved with facilitating an abortion, including providing someone a ride to a clinic, raising concerns that ride-share drivers could be sued simply for doing their job- transporting passengers.
“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.
The statement, signed by Lyft CEO Logan Green, President John Zimmer and General Counsel Kristin Sverchek also explained, “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 also announced that they’re donating $1 million to Planned Parenthood “to ensure that transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared on Twitter that Uber would follow Lyft’s lead.
“Team @Uber is in too and will cover legal fees in the same way. Thanks for the push,” the CEO wrote, quoting Green’s announcement of Lyft’s driver defense fund.
