Lyft Vows to Cover 100% of Legal Fees for Drivers Sued Under New Texas Abortion Law

Leia IdlibySep 3rd, 2021, 5:00 pm
 
Lyft CEO Logan Green Vows to Cover 100% of Legal Fees for Drivers Sued Under Lyft CEO Vows to Cover 100% of Legal Fees for Drivers Sued Under Texas Law

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Logan Green, the CEO and co-founder of Lyft, announced that the ride-hailing company will cover all legal fees if any of its drivers are sued under Texas’ new abortion law.

“TX SB8 threatens to punish drivers for getting people where they need to go— especially women exercising their right to choose,” he wrote in a Friday tweet. “[Lyft] has created a Driver Legal Defense Fund to cover 100% of legal fees for drivers sued under SB8 while driving on our platform.”

The law, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, also puts any person who aided the procedure, including doctors, clinic workers, and drivers who transported those receiving their abortions, at legal risk.

While no patient can be sued under the law, anyone who contributed to the patient’s access to the procedure could be fined $10,000.

“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,” the company added in a release. “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.”

Green further denounced the law as “an attack on women’s access to healthcare and on their right to choose,” and announced that Lyft is donating $1 million to Planned Parenthood “to ensure that transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access.”

Lyft co-founder John Zimmer also hailed the announcement, writing on Twitter that he is “proud of the team.”

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