A bill to require companies that pay employees' expenses for out-of-state abortions to also have 12 weeks of paid maternity leave passed the Arkansas House on Monday.
Rep. Aaron Pilkington, the sponsor of House Bill 1006, said the bill is aimed at "blatant hypocrisy" from companies who cover abortion services for their workers but not maternity leave. The House approved the bill on a party-line 80-12 vote. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Presenting the bill on the House floor Monday, Pilkington called out companies that are "circumventing" Arkansas' abortion ban, which took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Abortions in Arkansas are banned except in cases of medical emergency for the mother.
"These companies that say they believe in choice, say they believe in a woman's right to choose, it's not true choice if you incentivize one but not incentivize the other," said Pilkington, a Republican from Knoxville.
The bill requires companies that have 50 or more full-time employees "that [cover] abortions or travel expenses related to abortions for employees" to also pay for 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. To count as full time, the employee must work at the company for each working day during 20 or more "calendar work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year."
The bill would apply only to employees who are enrolled in the company's health care plan and are birth mothers.
Pilkington said the bill was based on the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which requires employers to allow their workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family or medical reasons.
After the Supreme Court's June decision clearing the way for states to ban abortions, several large companies said they would reimburse employees if they traveled out of state to get an abortion. Arkansas' law banning abortion was passed in 2019 and came into effect days after the Supreme Court's decision in June.
"This is just such a heavy-handed, big government move," said Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock. "Why do we as a government need to get involved in what a company spends its money on, vis-a-vis its employees, as far as paying for their travel expenses, no matter what it is?"
In August, Walmart said its health insurance plan covers some abortions for employees, including in cases where a pregnancy poses a health risk to the mother; rape or incest; ectopic pregnancy; and miscarriage or "lack of fetal viability."
The company will pay travel expenses for employees, or dependents covered under their policies, who do not have access to abortion services within 100 miles of their location, according to a memo from a Walmart executive. A spokesperson for Walmart did not return a request to comment on the bill Monday.
Walmart's benefits package includes "enhanced maternity and parental leave for qualified full-time hourly and salaried associates," which includes up to 16 paid weeks off for birth moms, according to a news release from the company.
During the bill's hearing in committee last week, Pilkington said he knew of at least three large companies in Arkansas that offered coverage for out-of-state abortions for their employees, but Pilkington declined to name them.
Information for this article was contributed by Will Langhorne of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.