Starbucks so as to add abortion travel protection to U.S. health benefits

Could 16 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) will reimburse U.S. staff if they need to travel greater than 100 miles from their homes to obtain an abortion, in line with a memo sent to staff on Monday.

The worldwide coffee chain joins Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and a small but growing checklist of other companies to offer the benefit as some U.S. states impose tighter restrictions on abortion. read more .

The problem gained urgency after Politico revealed a leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court showing that a conservative majority of justices supported overturning the Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nationwide read extra

"Like a lot of you, I’m deeply involved by the draft Supreme Courtroom opinion related to the constitutional right to abortion that was first established by Roe v. Wade," wrote Sara Kelly, a human resources government.

The benefit also applies to the dependents of workers, the memo said.

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Reporting by Hilary Russ Modifying by Chizu Nomiyama

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