Traversing the Abortion Landscape: Rights, Restrictions, Options and Alternatives for Plan Sponsors | Sessions

With its holding in Dobbs v. Jackson Healthcare in 2021, the United States Supreme Court newly invigorated the debate as to state-level rights and restrictions respecting abortion related treatments and services. Regardless of individual perspectives on the issue, the Dobbs decision squarely placed the regulation of abortion related treatments and services in the hands of voters and the state legislatures. With this new authority, many states have already expanded and/or further enshrined abortion protections, while several other states have already utilized this newfound authority to restrict or even ban abortion all together.   For the private employee benefit plan sponsor, these state-level legislative activities raise a bounty of legal and regulatory issues due to both a generalized lack of consistency across the nation, as well the many intricacies involved in the operational requirements of a plethora of laws and regulations. Few times in our history have private employers been drawn so robustly into what many individuals perceive to be a personal (and private) medical debate. Nevertheless, here we are today. Employers must now come to terms with an extensive, ever-evolving slate of contrasting state-level rights, restrictions, and other related legal obligations.   Join us for this timely session to examine the current national abortion landscape. We'll explore abortion-related rights and restrictions placed upon both employees and private employers, as well the options and alternatives for those employers seeking compromises and/or alterative solutions to the dilemma of state-level regulation of abortion related treatments and services.  Learn and understand the current landscape of abortion-related treatments and services regulation throughout the United States.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate and understand the current national legal and regulatory landscape affecting individual access to abortion related treatments and services.
• Explore and understand the potential law enforcement consequences arising from a private employer's failure to abide by national state-level restrictions placed upon abortion-related treatments and services.
• Learn and understand options and alternative available to private employers seeking to preserve and/or expand an employee's right to access abortion-related treatments and services.
• Explore employee communication styles, methodologies, and other alternatives for fostering a legal and safe environment for discourse among a private employer's leadership and its workforce related to abortion-related requirements and access issues.