Bumble, Tinder owner Match Group criticise Texas law, start aid funds

Rival dating app Bumble also criticised the law and announced on Instagram it will donate funds to six organizations that support women's reproductive rights.

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 23, 2019 file photo, Founder and CEO of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd, speaks during the TIME 100 Summit, in New York. The Texas law, which took effect Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, after the Supreme Court denied an emergency appeal from abortion providers, bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and often before women know they’re pregnant. Austin-based Bumble, which is led by CEO Whitney Wolfe, spoke out against the law on social media. “Bumble is women-founded and women-led, and from day one we’ve stood up for the most vulnerable. We’ll keep fighting against regressive laws like #SB8,” Bumble said on Twitter. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (AP)

The chief executive of Tinder-owner Match Group has sharply criticised the new law prohibiting most abortions in Texas and says she is setting up a fund to help any Texas-based employees who need to seek an abortion outside the state.

Rival dating app Bumble also criticised the law and announced on Instagram it will donate funds to six organizations that support women's reproductive rights.

Both companies are based in Texas and led by women.

Dallas-based Match Group said CEO Shar Dubey is creating the fund on her own and not through the company. She spoke out against the law in a memo to employees Thursday.

“I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago and I have to say, as a Texas resident, I am shocked that I now live in a state where women's reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India," Dubey said in the memo.

Dubey said her fund would help cover any additional costs incurred by Match Group employees if they need to travel outside the state to seek an abortion.

Her statement came after Austin-based Bumble, which is led by CEO Whitney Wolfe, spoke out against the law on social media.

“Bumble is women-founded and women-led, and from day one we've stood up for the most vulnerable. We'll keep fighting against regressive laws like #SB8,” Bumble said on Twitter.

The Texas law, which took effect Tuesday after the Supreme Court denied an emergency appeal from abortion providers, bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and often before women know they're pregnant.

Rather than be enforced by government authorities, the law gives citizens the right to file civil suits and collect damages against anyone aiding an abortion. It does not make exceptions for rape or incest.

The law constitutes the biggest curb to the constitutional right to an abortion in decades. (AP)