“This is the hottest of the hot potatoes,” said Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce. “While lots of issues are polarizing, this is ground zero for polarization. People are fanatically passionate one way or another.”
When the report of the draft court opinion set off a political firestorm this week, a few companies issued statements supporting abortion rights but stopped short of taking further action themselves. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, also did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment, though its chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, posted on her personal social media accounts on Tuesday that the document represents a “scary day for women all across the country.”
Over the past few years, companies have added their voices to the Black Lives Matter movement and issues like same-sex marriage. After the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S.
State lawmakers are similarly taking aim at companies that offer help to women seeking abortions in states with less restrictive laws around abortions. Should Roe v. Wade get overturned,In March, Texas State Representative Briscoe Cain, a Republican, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Citigroup, saying he would propose legislation barring local governments in the state from doing business with any company that provides travel benefits for employees seeking abortions.
Some corporations have long paid for their employees’ travel-related expenses for surgeries out of state under their medical benefits, noted Katy Johnson, senior counsel of health policy at The American Benefits Council, a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. She said she has fielded more interest from companies since the abortion ban in Texas to cover travel expenses for abortion procedures.