Women Who Code - Empowering women to excel in tech careers

On June 24, 2022, in a 5-4 ruling, the conservative Justices of the United States Supreme Court – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch – reversed Roe v. Wade. These five people overturned our constitutional right to abortion, which has been upheld for nearly 50 years, and exposed the fragility of some of our fundamental freedoms.

This court decision affects the rights of people in the United States to access reproductive healthcare. It immediately shifted access to safe abortions away from doctors and patients to state lawmakers, clearing the way for restrictive laws that were already in progress in many places across the US. This ruling also set into motion the ability of the court to reassess other freedoms that are legally protected by US law. Prior to this ruling, although protected by law, access to care was not equitable and unilateral. This court decision creates an even more significant gap.

At Women Who Code, we believe that individuals, not lawmakers, should have agency over their bodies, equitable access to healthcare, and the ability to make informed decisions that impact their lives at the most personal level.

The team at Women Who Code is exploring how we can support our community. As a first step, WWCode is providing a list of resources below and implementing a policy to reimburse up to $3,000 in travel costs for team members and their families to obtain abortions in cases where team members live in a location that restricts their access. We encourage our tech partners to consider what they can do to ensure that as many as possible retain access to the care they need when they need it most.

In the coming weeks, you will hear more about actions we can take to ensure that we can continue to focus on our mission of empowering diverse women to excel in tech careers.

As a community, we are powerful.