Abby Davis, FISM News
A wave of companies have announced they will pay for employees’ access to “reproductive health services” following the Supreme Court’s official ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the authority to legislate abortion issues to the states.
Many large and well-recognized companies—including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, PayPal, Target, Starbucks, and many others— have outlined reimbursement plans that would fund travel for employees going out of a state that prohibits abortion to obtain the procedure in a state that allows it. Several have also publicized their donations to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s top provider of abortions.
While companies may tout it as a moral stance to fund employees’ abortions, it may also be a profitable one. Most of these companies offer anywhere from eight weeks up to one year of paid maternity or paternity leave. In addition, employees’ children are often added to healthcare plans as dependents, increasing the cost to companies.
Also, The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that women work more when they can terminate pregnancies. “Existing research suggests that greater access to abortion increased women’s future participation in the workforce—the probability of working 40 weeks or more per year increased almost two percentage points (from 29 percent) after the legalization of abortion,” the institute’s research stated.
They cited a 2004 study showing that abortion is an effective way to get more labor from women—especially black women. “Results suggest that among the full population of black women, labor force participation increased by nearly six percentage points as a result of abortion restriction repeals (on a basis of 29 percent for all women in the sample), with little effect on the participation of white women.”
The Christian Post (CP) encouraged pro-life investors to protest by refusing to do business with companies that pay for abortions. They linked inspireinsight.com as a resource to find out which corporations have instituted these policies. They also urged those boycotting these companies to write letters to these corporations explaining that they are divesting their stocks because they believe that unborn children have a right to life.
According to CP, these measures are effective, “By God’s grace, we have seen major corporations including Exxon, Chevron, Costco, and others change their corporate policies in response to our engagement efforts. Working together, pro-life investors have a uniquely powerful avenue to advance the protection of life at conception.”
A comprehensive list of corporations’ public responses to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision can also be found on Rhia.com, a pro-abortion website.
The list of companies with over 500 employees who will pay for abortion access includes Accenture, Adidas, Adobe, Airbnb, Alaska Airlines, Allbirds, American Express, Atlassian, Bank of America, Ben & Jerry’s, Benefit Cosmetics, BieGene, Biogen, BlackRock, Box.com, Brown Harris Stevens, Bumble, Buzzfeed, Chief, Chobani, Cigna, Citigroup, CNN, Comcast, Compass, Condé Nast, Crocs, CVS, Dell, Deutsche Bank, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Disney, DoorDash, Douglas Elliman, Duolingo, Estee Lauder, Expedia, Facebook, Fidelity Investments, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, GoDaddy, Goldman Sachs, Google, Gucci, H&M, Hewlett Packard, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IKEA US, Indeed, Interpublic, Intuit, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., The Knot Worldwide, Kroger, Levi Strauss, Live Nation, Lush Cosmetics, Lyft, Mastercard, Match, Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, Netflix, The New York Times, Nike, Nordstrom, Patagonia, Paramount, Paypal, Pinterest, Power Home Remodeling, Proctor & Gamble, Publicis, Reddit, Salesforce, Sephora, Skechers, Sony, Stagwell, State Street, Target, Tesla, Uber, United Talent Agency, VF, Virgin, Vox Media, Warner Bros., Wells Fargo, WPP, Yahoo, Yelp, Zendesk, and Zillow.
There are also companies that spread pro-life messaging and donate to pro-life causes. Seven Weeks Coffee—who chose that name because a baby is the size of a coffee bean at 7 weeks old—donates $1.69 to pregnancy resource centers for every bag of beans they sell. Culture of Life 1972 is a clothing brand that financially supports pro-life causes. Credit card company Coign also donates to conservative charities. Meanwhile, Hobby Lobby won a 2014 Supreme Court decision that exempted them from a Health and Human Services mandate which would have required the company to pay for employees’ abortion-causing drugs. In addition, Live Action News listed several companies whose owners donate to pro-life causes, including Gold’s Gym, Curves, and MyPillow.