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After Texas abortion law, Salesforce to help workers who want to relocate

"If you want to move we'll help you exit TX. Your choice," says CEO Marc Benioff.

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Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
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A protester outside the US Supreme Court after justices there declined to block the new Texas abortion law, instead letting the legal battle play out in the lower courts.

A protester outside the US Supreme Court after justices there declined to block the new Texas abortion law, instead letting the legal battle play out in the lower courts.

 Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Salesforce said it'll help its employees relocate if they're concerned about accessing reproductive care following the passage in Texas of one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the US.

"These are incredibly personal issues that directly impact many of us -- especially women," Salesforce told employees Friday in a Slack message obtained by CNBC. "We recognize and respect that we all have deeply held and different perspectives. As a company, we stand with all of our women at Salesforce and everywhere. With that being said, if you have concerns about access to reproductive healthcare in your state, Salesforce will help relocate you and members of your immediate family."

Salesforce didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. On Friday night, CEO Marc Benioff tweeted about the policy, leading off his note with a Hawaiian term for "family": "Ohana if you want to move we'll help you exit TX. Your choice," he wrote.

Benioff and Salesforce join other tech players in responding to Texas' Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions after six weeks, before most people know they're pregnant. The law has no exceptions for rape or incest and lets private individuals sue anyone seeking an abortion as well as those who "aid or abet" the procedure.

Shar Dubey, CEO of the company that owns online dating services Match.com, OkCupid and Tinder, is personally starting a support fund for Texas-based employees needing to seek care outside the state. Bumble, another e-dating company, said it's creating a relief fund "supporting the reproductive rights of women and people across the gender spectrum who seek abortions in Texas." And ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber have said they'll cover legal fees for drivers sued under SB 8.

About 2,000 people work at Saleforce's Dallas offices, one of 16 US locations for the company, CNBC reported, adding that the firm has 56,000 employees globally.

Other states, including Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio, have passed abortion legislation similar to that in Texas, but those laws have been delayed by legal challenges, and the Texas law is the first to go into effect. On Thursday, the US Department of Justice sued Texas over SB 8, arguing that it's unconstitutional.