Why providing our employees with comprehensive reproductive health benefits is important to us

Alloy’s commitment to our team amid the growing number of anti-abortion laws in the US

It’s difficult to read the news recently and not read something troubling about reproductive rights and abortion laws in jeopardy across multiple states in the US. After almost 50 years since the historic Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more and more states have been looking for legal loopholes to put in place to make it harder for people to access abortion care. This trend exploded in September 2021 when The Texas Heartbeat Act (SB8), which bans abortions after six weeks, went into effect. When the Supreme Court declined to overturn SB8, it opened the door for more states to introduce equally harmful anti-abortion laws. Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Mississippi law that directly challenges Roe v. Wade by banning abortions after 15 weeks (9 weeks before the current law).

As a female co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of a company that employs 200 people across the US, I’ve been reflecting on the implications of these laws for Alloy and its employees. I’m proud that Alloy has taken public stances for political issues that are important to us and support our overall mission of enabling economic growth and creating a more accessible and equitable financial industry.

In 2019, for example, we updated our terms of service prohibiting financial institutions from using Alloy’s product to deny a customer access to a financial services product because of their immigration or citizenship status. Internally, our DEI mission statement is an integral part of building our growing team and striving to cultivate an inclusive and equitable workplace.

The attack on abortion rights will not eliminate abortions. Instead, it creates less equitable access to reproductive care and puts lives at risk. Middle-class and wealthy people will still be able to access abortion care because they have the resources to travel to states where abortion is still legal. By restricting local access, states are limiting people with lower incomes to make the best choice for their situation and goals.

Additionally, there is a lot of data that supports that abortion restrictions will have severe negative impacts on our economic growth. According to research from The Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “state-level abortion restrictions cost state economies $105 billion dollars per year—by reducing labor force participation and earnings levels and increasing turnover and time off from work among women ages 15 to 44 years."

Alloy’s pledge to support our employees

As reproductive rights come under fire through our government, the leadership team at Alloy finds it essential that we take a more explicit stance in favor of reproductive rights and offer our employees more comprehensive guidelines on supporting their reproductive health moving forward. We already offer healthcare packages that include reproductive care, 16 weeks of parental leave for both primary and secondary caregivers and unlimited PTO (which can be used for anything, including seeking abortion care, other reproductive health care appointments or time off after a pregnancy loss).

In addition to our existing benefits listed above, we are introducing the following policies to help support the reproductive rights of our employees.

Alloy will:

• Cover 50% of legal expenses up to $5,000 if any employee (or their partner) suffers legal issues as a result of anti-abortion laws

• Contribute up to $1,500 towards travel expenses for employees (or their partners) needing to travel out of state for abortion care

• Contribute up to $1,500 for out-of-pocket medical costs for an employee (or their partner) in need of out-of-network abortion care

Also, Alloy offers a donation match program where we match donations up to $200 annually per employee. Employees are able to donate to organizations that support reproductive rights, such as Planned Parenthood, The Center for Reproductive Rights, or the National Abortion Federation. As part of this policy, Alloy will not match donations to any organizations with pro-life causes.

This isn't the first time in history that private corporations have had to pick up the slack to offer benefits and support to employees that our government struggles to provide to its citizens. At Alloy, we’re proud to stand with our employees and help them live healthy and happy lives in any way we can.