NASHVILLE, Tennessee (LifeSiteNews) – Businesses that want special tax breaks from the city of Nashville and Davidson County must “report” whether or not they will help employees travel out-of-state for abortions, according to recently signed legislation.
The new ordinance, signed Wednesday by the Nashville and Davidson County joint government, “adds a requirement that the company report whether it provides its employees with benefits that include covering the cost of transportation, accommodations, and other related costs when necessary to obtain medical treatment not otherwise available in the employee’s home state…[which] would include reproductive healthcare treatment such as abortion.”
The pro-abortion resolution comes shortly before Tennessee’s statewide ban on abortion comes into effect next Thursday, after the Supreme Court of the United States approved the state’s trigger law.
The legislation applies to “companies seeking economic and community development incentive grants and payment in lieu of taxes.” Currently, companies must report “the type and number of jobs the company will create, the number of jobs to be filled by residents of Davidson County, whether projects will use apprentices from programs certified by the U.S. Department of Labor, and the number and types of [workplace safety] violations against the company or any contractor retained on the project, among other information.”
The resolution further stated that “the Metropolitan Council supports the right to abortion access previously established under Roe v. Wade and finds that restrictions upon reproductive rights and private healthcare decisions threaten the safety and wellbeing of the residents of Nashville and Davidson County.”
These restrictions “particularly [harm] women unable to travel to neighboring jurisdictions where abortion care is safe and legal.”
The resolution stated that “it is important for the residents of Davidson County to know whether companies seeking economic and community development incentive grant agreements and PILOT agreements with the metropolitan government provide their employees with similar access to obtain medical treatment that is otherwise unavailable in their respective home states.”
The City of Nashville is also exploring ways to help government employees travel out-of-state for abortions.
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Author Matt Lamb
