Bumble and Match Have Created a Relief Fund To Help Cover Abortion Costs in Texas

Bumble and Match Have Created a Relief Fund To Help Cover Abortion Costs in Texas

The dating platforms Bumble and Match Group, the company that owns Tinder, have teamed up to create a relief fund for Texas women seeking abortions after the state passed an insidious six-week ban on the procedure earlier this week.

Bumble — which is based in Austin, meaning its own employees will be subject to the ban — said on Wednesday that the fund was created with the intention of “supporting the reproductive rights of women and people across the gender spectrum who seek abortions in Texas.”

“Bumble is women-founded and women-led, and from day one we’ve stood up for the most vulnerable,” the company said in a statement on Twitter. “We’ll keep fighting against regressive laws like #SB8.”

SB8 — the controversial legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May — functionally overturns the right to an abortion in Texas as guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, even in cases of rape or incest. In making sure that the law would be virtually impossible for reproductive rights advocates to fight in court, lawmakers deployed a sneaky legal manoeuvre by entrusting its enforcement to private citizens who’ve been given the power to sue individuals they believe have had an unauthorised abortion as well as anyone they believe aided the procedure — bypassing the clause in Roe that specifically forbids states, districts, or counties from enforcing abortion bans.

In addition to Tinder, Match Group — which is also headquartered in Texas — also owns Match.com, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, and Hinge. CEO Shar Dubey said that the fund will be a critical resource for employees and their dependents in the event that they need to travel outside the state to obtain reproductive care.

“The company generally does not take political stands unless it is relevant to our business. But in this instance, I personally, as a woman in Texas, could not keep silent,” Dubey said in an internal memo obtained by Reuters. “Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law that doesn’t even make an exception for victims of rape or incest.”

Gestational age is measured from the date of a woman’s last period, meaning that she is typically already two weeks “pregnant” on the date of conception. Many women don’t realise that they’re pregnant until at least six weeks — a fact that reproductive rights advocates have used to support their claims that the Texas law would effectively outlaw at least 85% of the abortions sought in the state.


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