Texas abortion laws
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2021
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Texas has introduced the most stringent abortion law in America. Tamasin Ford assesses some of the reaction to this law by employers and employees who have traditionally been attracted to the Lone Star State because of its low taxes and lower house prices.
Ashley Lopez, NPR journalist in Austin explains the complexities of the law and how it will disproportionately affect women of colour. Curtis Sparrer, co-founder of PR firm Bospar, explains how his company is offering to help relocate employees who want to move out of the state. And Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO of Austin-based QuestionPro, explains how his company will offer financial assistance to employees who need to get a termination. We also hear from Valerie Veteto, who moved to Texas, attracted by its job prospects and low house prices, but is now preparing for a move to New York.
Producer: Nisha Patel
(Picture: Protests outside the Supreme Court in the US Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Tamerson Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:05.6 | Some companies in Texas are beginning to react to the US state's new abortion law. |
| 0:11.5 | We announced a relocation plan, and that relocation plan gave up to $10,000 to anyone who needed to relocate outside of Texas. |
| 0:25.6 | Yet many other companies, particularly the big ones, are remaining silent. I think it's important to remember this is a state with very low taxes, something that's very appealing to companies. |
| 0:32.6 | And this is a big state where there are a lot of young workers. |
| 0:35.6 | There are other financial reasons that companies |
| 0:39.6 | are coming here. The statewide ban that essentially makes abortion illegal after six weeks |
| 0:45.6 | is now the toughest abortion law in America. We take a look at how and if it will damage Texas's |
| 0:53.0 | reputation as a business-friendly state. |
| 0:57.2 | Our creator endowed us with the right to life. And yet, millions of children lose their |
| 1:07.0 | right to life every year because of abortion. |
| 1:15.9 | That's the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, back in May, signing in the most restrictive abortion law in America. |
| 1:18.0 | The Texas legislature worked together on a bipartisan basis to pass a bill that I'm about |
| 1:24.5 | to sign that ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat |
| 1:30.7 | will be saved. If you think about abortion, you might not immediately see it as something that |
| 1:36.4 | an employer would get involved with. It's often a private matter, a family matter. But in the |
| 1:43.1 | state of Texas in America, |
| 1:45.0 | a new abortion law has compelled some businesses to take a stand. |
| 1:50.0 | The law came into effect on September 1st, |
| 1:53.0 | effectively stopping women from having an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, |
| 1:58.0 | which in many cases is before some women even know they're pregnant. |
| 2:03.0 | Ashley Lopez is a journalist at America's National Public Radio Station in Austin, the state |
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