Google workers demand abortion protections, data privacy

A letter signed by more than 650 employees and sent this week to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other Alphabet executives calls for the inclusion of contractors in abortion benefits. — AP

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California: Hundreds of Google employees are petitioning the company to extend its abortion healthcare benefits to contract workers and to strengthen privacy protections for Google users searching for abortion information online.

Google parent company Alphabet had pledged to pay travel and other health care costs for employees seeking an out-of-state abortion and to help some workers relocate after the US Supreme Court repealed the constitutional right to an abortion. The June decision overturning 1973’s Roe v. Wade ruling has paved the way for severe abortion restrictions or bans in nearly half of the US states.