Following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, health lawyers have been busy making sense of the legal implications of the court’s landmark ruling. In this Law360 article, McDermott Partners Stacey Callaghan and David Gacioch offer insight into the myriad of questions they’ve received from hospitals, pharmacies, telemedicine platforms, investors and other players in the industry.
“The field against whom [abortion restrictions] can be enforced becomes so much broader,” Gacioch said. “It’s such a sea change.”
A group of conservative Texas lawmakers is warning employers of potential civil or criminal consequences if they offer out-of-state abortion access to their employees. In this Bloomberg Law article, McDermott Partner Scott Weinstein said many companies offering reproductive healthcare benefits are making sure such benefits aren’t tied to a particular procedure.
Employers seeking to provide their employees with abortion services are facing a dizzying patchwork of laws that differ from state to state, according to this Corporate Counsel article. McDermott’s Sarah Raaii said companies with employees in multiple states “would really need to do a state-by-state analysis of what the abortion laws are, whether and under what circumstances abortion is legal in most states.”
The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will generate a minefield of legal and criminal implications for healthcare providers, according to this Healthcare Dive article. McDermott Partners Stacey Callaghan and David Gacioch offer insight into what these restrictive state laws could mean for providers.
The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has left employers—and employees—with more questions than answers. While many employers have promised to pay for their employees to travel across state lines for an abortion, it’s unclear if employers might be sued for doing so. In this USA TODAY article, McDermott’s Sarah Raaii said employers may point to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion on the “constitutional right to interstate travel” for support.
On May 6, 2022, McDermott Partner Chris Nemeth delivered a presentation during the 2022 TEA National Conference titled “ESOP Litigation: Latest Trends and Open Questions.” His presentation focused on recent significant employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) court decisions and emerging litigation trends in the ESOP industry. Chris and his co-presenter touched on the enforceability of arbitration clauses in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) litigation, post-transaction debt forgiveness, and pleading and standing requirements.
The patchwork of US federal and state rules governing abortion insurance coverage will become more complicated following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In this MarketWatch article, McDermott’s Sarah Raaii said the situation has employers on edge.
“We’ve had a huge influx of employers reaching out and asking, ‘What should I be doing? Are there risks?’” Raaii said.
In the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, legal experts say health systems and providers must immediately review their operations and prepare for potential enforcement by state prosecutors. According to this article published in Fierce Healthcare, McDermott Partner Stacey Callaghan said organizations should consult with counsel “as soon as possible” to ensure they understand the new post-Roe landscape.
The monumental decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade presents significant challenges for employers and health plans. According to this Law360 article, employers should begin reviewing state laws, evaluating internal company policies, gauging employee reactions and preparing for legal challenges. McDermott’s Sarah Raaii called the Supreme Court’s decision “an administrative and potentially employee relations nightmare for employers.”
“It creates a lot of challenges for employers who just want to do right by their employees and continue offering these abortion benefits that they have historically done in the past,” Raaii said.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Dobbs), overturning Roe v. Wade (Roe) and upending 50 years of precedent protecting a woman’s right to privacy in choosing to abort a pregnancy prior to the point of viability.
The effect of this decision on US companies cannot be understated. Any organization whose operations touch family planning services in any way (e.g., providers, those that facilitate operations, investors, payors, employers that provide family planning benefits and health plan service providers) should immediately examine their precise services, geographic footprint, corporate structure and organizational priorities.
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