Sandy MaloneVentura, CA – Clothing company Patagonia announced on Friday that it would pay the bail to spring any of its employees who were arrested protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Patagonia posted a message of pro-choice support on its LinkedIn page on June 24 that read “Caring for employees is the responsibility of business” and that it extended beyond providing basic health insurance.
In its post, the clothing company promised to make it as easy as possible for employees who wanted to terminate a pregnancy.
“U.S. employees on our health plans are covered for abortion care. Where restrictions exist, travel, lodging and food are covered,” the company wrote.
Patagonia also pledged to provide all full and part-time employees with “Training and bail for those who peacefully protest for reproductive justice,” according to the post.
J.J. Huggins, a spokesperson for Patagonia, told Axios that the bail policy was not new and had not been created as a result of the latest controversial high court ruling.
Patagonia has “had the bail policy in place for many years,” Huggins said. “The company will post bail for an employee who has previously taken a nonviolent civil disobedience class and is subsequently arrested while peacefully protesting.”
Protesters took to the streets in cities across the United States over the weekend after the Supreme Court released its opinion on a Mississippi abortion case that resulted in the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Democratic lawmakers joined protesters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court calling the justices’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade “illegitimate” and promising to defy it.
“You see this turnout here?” U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) asked. “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Women are going to control their bodies no matter how they try and stop us.”
“The hell with the Supreme Court. We will defy them,” Waters vowed. “Women will be in control of their bodies.”
“And if they think black women are intimidated or afraid, they got another thought coming,” she continued. “Black women will be out in droves. We will be out by the thousands. We will be out by the millions. We’re going to make sure we fight for the right to control our own bodies.”
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) also joined demonstrators in front of the highest court in the land to call for more protests.
“We have to fill the streets,” Ocasio-Cortez yelled into a loudspeaker in front of the court. “Right now, elections are not enough… we need sand in every damned gear… elections alone are not going to save us. We need to show up – yeah at the ballot box, but that’s the bare minimum.”
She was also spotted chanting that the Supreme Court’s ruling was “illegitimate” and urging Americans to go “into the streets” to protest the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, ending Constitutional protections for abortions that have been in place since 1973.
The decision announced by the nation’s highest court on June 24 was expected to result in abortion bans in roughly half of the 50 states, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The court voted 6-to-3 to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks, Bloomberg reported.
The justices also voted 5-to-4 to explicitly overturn Roe v. Wade and the rights it established almost 50 years ago.
They also overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed Roe v. Wade, Bloomberg reported.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey said the 14th Amendment prevented states from imposing significant restrictions until about 23 weeks into a pregnancy, which is considered fetal viability.
The ruling was handed down more than a month after a leaked draft of the opinion that indicated that Supreme Court planned to reverse Roe v. Wade was published by the media, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Holly Matkin
