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Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

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Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#121
post #15

Quoted post unavailable.

Well, the whole reason why this situation took place is because people in red states are fed up with the influx of blue voters, that end up bringing in the exact problems that made them relocate. This is how empires fall. As people with different political views no longer depend on each other economically, they drift more and more into opposite directions, until they do not want to share the same government anymore.

Look at national opinion polls. The US is incredibly united right now. 70% want medicare for all (53% want single payer health care). Strong majorities object to overturning Roe v Wade and rolling back gun control laws.

The issue is that the senate can be filibustered with 5% of the US population's backing. A majority vote requires 8%. A fillibuster-proof majority requires 12%.

This implies that it would not take many geographically mobile liberals to end the Republican party forever.

Ironically, the Republican party invented this technique back when they were what we would currently call a liberal party. It worked great. Read up on carpetbaggers.

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#122
post #58
post #25

Ignoring abortion, I suspect that states without contraception, IVF or gay rights will be of less interest to a significant portion of the tech workforce. Companies would have to provide alternatives unless they want to limit their hiring to red state natives. Good argument for wfh to get talent that just won’t go there. Note that most contraceptives prevent implantation and IVF creates more embryos than needed. Both…

> Note that most contraceptives prevent implantation and IVF creates more embryos than needed. Both are no-no’s under the new regime. Do you have any examples of specific laws of in any states that would make contraception or IVF illegal? Most pro-life people are very supportive of IVF as they are all about people having more babies. Many states with anti-abortion laws also have laws explicitly making surrogacy legal…

Of course not, but that is the natural progression of forcing evangelical/Catholic morals on all Americans as current Republican leadership is pushing for. I hope it blows up in their face and Americans wake up to the coming Republican attempt to install Trump as dictator for life.

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#123
post #65
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently declined an Apple role that required Austin relocation. I like Austin and considered the move, but ultimately my family is my priority. We can't risk moving to a tech hub in a blistering red state with growing regulation on personhood. I told the recruiter Apple needs to reconsider where it plans to do long-term business.

My understanding is that Austin is actually politically moderate, though the strong authoritarianism is much more troubling to me than the heavy political slant.

The main issue is that Austin, like all other municipalities in Texas, is governed by the Legislature of the State of Texas. Home rule cities in Texas have legislatively-granted broad authority but the Texas constitution doesn't protect the actions of home rule cities very much. The legislature of Texas has routinely been very fast to pass laws pre-empting city ordinances they don't like. This is in comparison to the constitutions (and constitutional traditions) of some other states where the legislature is largely expected to let local government do its thing while the legislature concerns itself with the state as a whole.

Or, put another way, Austin might be the deepest blue on the entire continent but that means little when the state government is in direct opposition, and has been for decades.

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#124
post #88
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about making it illegal, it's that IVF typically results in more fertilized embryos than are kept. So like you said, the pro-life folks would force every single one to be kept.

Do you have an example of any pro-life lawmaker, pundit, anyone demanding that all embryos from IVF be kept?

This is a natural result of placing the cutoff at conception.

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#126
post #72
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that Austin is actually politically moderate, though the strong authoritarianism is much more troubling to me than the heavy political slant.

That is my understanding as well. Austin itself feels like a city plucked out of blue state, but I didn't want to risk being caught in the growing Texan zeal with nowhere to go.

But just think about all of those sweet, sweet electoral votes if you help flip it.

Sincerely,

A Georgia Resident

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#127
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 24 weeks of maternity leave from Google You know these 24 weeks aren't a vacation, right? They're about 100x more demanding then the average tech job, and on-call 24/7. Not to mention that after the 24 weeks are up, you still have another unpaid (in fact, you are paying!) full time job of raising a child for at least another 17.5 years. That is a tall task for someone hoping to climb in their career, even if they w…

> You know these 24 weeks aren't a vacation, right? I never claimed it was. It’s a time to bond with your child and get acclimated to new responsibilities. That Google offers 24 weeks of maternity leave is something should be lauded, not vilified. > They're about 100x more demanding then the average tech job, and on-call 24/7. Not to mention that after the 24 weeks are up, you still have another unpaid (in fact, you…

You make quite a few assumptions about children bringing people joy and being something they’ll love more than anything else.

That may be your experience, but people can also resent their children, especially if giving birth causes life-long health issues.

My parents never should have been parents. They were too busy, didn’t have enough money, and were physically and emotionally abusive. Their children didn’t bring them joy and they took their unhappiness out on us.

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#128
post #48
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google cares about attracting and retaining smart people. Smart people generally respect reproductive rights. So I guess in some ways you are correct, but not in the way your response to the person you are responding to would imply. What is interesting is that I guess the average google employee is in a good enough position in life to either afford birth control, get an abortion if they need one, or simply figure out…

The split of pro/against is really close to 50/50. If you think that the smart people are only on one side or that only one side has "good" arguments, then you are living in a bubble. The argument over abortion was going on before Roe v Wade. Roe v Wade only prevented legislation from finding a solution.

> The split of pro/against is really close to 50/50.

I’ve searched and I cannot find data that say half of America wants abortion made completely illegal (as it is in several states right now and will be in more shortly due to trigger laws).

Can you please share where you get your 50/50 split from?

> Roe v Wade only prevented legislation from finding a solution.

Roe only? Roe made safe abortions available to millions — it reshaped society.

If the argument against Roe is that fertilized embryos are killed, then we need to make sure in-vitro fertilization is stopped where abortion is as well.

As one anti-abortion politician said “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman.”

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#129
post #46

Quoted post unavailable.

As with so many things in politics, the change in the status quo is perceived as more important (or at least more salient) than an existing bad situation.

Is that fair? Not necessarily. But it’s intuitive, in terms of individuals and companies adapting to a suddenly changed playing field. By comparison, Saudi Arabia’s policies are nothing new.

Re: Google says US employees can relocate to states with abortion rights

#130
This is the n'th tech company today that's made an announcement similar to this.

Even Disney is going to transport workers to abortion-legal states as needed as "health benefit".

It's certainly a perk and good on Google for this one, but we're headed to a dark place if your best shot at human rights is to retain employment by a big tech company.

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