WPP will pay for travel for abortions, CEO tells U.S. employees

Internal memo sent by CEO Mark Read updates holding company's healthcare benefits.  

AbJimroe AbJimroe
May 7, 2022 - 21:01
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WPP will pay for travel for abortions, CEO tells U.S. employees

WPP is updating its healthcare benefits for all U.S. agencies to provide funding for travel that allows “consistent access to healthcare and resources,” including abortion care, according to an internal memo from CEO Mark Read obtained by Ad Age.

In the email sent late this afternoon, Read explains that employees have reached out to him and other agency leadership regarding the issue. “We don’t know the full details or impact of these potential changes in reproductive rights yet but we do know we want our people to have the same health coverage regardless of where they live,” Read wrote in the email. “WPP is therefore updating its benefits plan to provide funding for travel that allows consistent access to healthcare and resources, including abortion care.”

The memo ends with Read saying that leadership of various agencies will follow up with employees moving forward and that the holding company offers confidential counseling and other kinds of help, “free of charge to everyone.”

The holding company wasn’t immediately available for comment.

This makes WPP the first agency holding company to update its healthcare benefits around abortion following the ongoing controversy caused by a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that suggested the court will soon strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.

This also marks the latest example of WPP becoming the first holding company to take a strong stance on a political issue. In March, WPP discontinued its operations in Russia following the continued invasion of Ukraine; it was later followed by rivals.