Nashville leaders are pushing for the Metro government to reimburse travel expenses for any employee who has to travel outside of Tennessee for an abortion.
Mayor John Cooper and several council members are formally asking the Metro Employee Benefit Board to expand coverage to include transportation and accommodations. This would affect roughly 15,000 employees.
“While our options to protect the right to choose in Nashville are limited by current law, we must do everything we can to continue providing access to health care and safe, affordable care for those who need it,” the mayor said in a statement. “I’m proud to be advocating for all Metro employees to have this essential benefit.”
The city health plan already covered abortions, but only when deemed “medically necessary.”
A list of officials have released statements of support, along with Jennifer Pepper, the CEO of CHOICES in Carbondale, Illinois. The abortion provider is now among the closest to Nashville.
“CHOICES looks forward to being able to provide critical access to women’s health services for those traveling from the Metro Nashville area,” Pepper wrote.
Tennessee’s all-out abortion ban will not take effect until August. But abortion providers in the state have largely stopped because of a six-week ban that took effect Tuesday. Other large area employers, including Vanderbilt, Nissan and HCA have not said how they’ll handle abortion coverage.
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