Bumble has lost a third of its Texas workforce in the months since the state passed the controversial abortion SB 8 (Senate Bill 8), also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, over a year ago. This new data point was shared by Bumble's Interim General Counsel, Elizabeth Monteleone, speaking on a panel this afternoon at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. The panel focused on the "healthcare crisis in Post-Roe America" and featured women who had both sued and spoken out about the need to have doctors, not politicians, involved in their healthcare decisions.

What's more, Monteleone noted that Bumble is no longer requiring employees to join the business in its Austin location, even though the dating app maker is headquartered there.

"We are a remote-first company. We've supported employees who've chosen to move out of state," Monteleone added.

"We -- since SB 8 -- have seen a reduction in our Texas workforce by about a third. Those employees are choosing to move elsewhere," she told the audience at the event. "There are a variety of laws in Texas that I think many people find incompatible with living a healthy life and being their authentic self," added Monteleone, suggesting that not all the departures may be tied directly to this specific piece of legislation, but possibly to several other Texas laws or proposed laws that don't sit well with Bumble's employees.

The dating app maker became the first business to join an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit against the Texas abortion law, Zurawski v. State of Texas, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The suit claims that the law puts the lives of pregnant women in jeopardy because doctors are afraid to offer abortion care for fear of losing their licenses, facing hefty fines, or even prison terms. Women involved in the case are suing the state for being forced to carry out their pregnancies because of the state's abortion law, despite risks to their health. Some women had to travel out of state to get health care, increasing their health risks. Others sued because they had to carry non-viable pregnancies to term. Several Texas doctors signed onto the lawsuit, as well, saying they could no longer properly practice medicine.

While the SXSW panel largely focused on the political aspects of this and other laws, including those that now seek to restrict access to IVF, as well as their personal and emotional toll on women, Bumble's lawyer additionally pointed to the business impact these sorts of laws have.