The Supreme Court’s decision to end the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion has catapulted companies of all kinds into the most divisive corner of politics.
Some companies that remained silent last month, when a draft opinion of Judge Samuel Alito leaked to Politico, spoke for the first time on Friday, including The Walt Disney Company, which said it will reimburse employees who have to travel out of state to get an abortion.
Meta, the father of Facebook, American Express, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs also said they would cover employee travel costs, while others like Apple, Starbucks, Lyft and Yelp reiterated previous announcements taking similar action. Outdoor clothing maker Patagonia went so far as to post on Friday on LinkedIn that it would offer “training and bail for those peacefully protesting reproductive justice” and free time to vote.
But of the dozens of large companies The Associated Press contacted on Friday, many such as McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Tyson and Marriott did not respond. Walmart, based in Arkansas, the country’s largest employer with a good portion of its stores in states that will immediately activate the abortion ban following Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, also remained silent.
Meanwhile, the Business Roundtable, an organization that represents some of the country’s most powerful companies, said it “does not have a position on the merits of the case.”
There is a lot at stake for companies, many of which have publicly pledged to promote equality and progress for women in the workplace. For states with restrictive abortion laws, they could now face major challenges in attracting college-educated workers who can move easily.
Luis von Ahn, CEO of the language application Duolingo, sent a tweet on Friday to Pennsylvania lawmakers, where the company is headquartered: “If PA makes abortion illegal, we won’t be able to attract talent and we will have to do it. grow our offices elsewhere. “
The ruling and the next mosaic of abortion bans also threaten the technology boom in places like Austin, Texas, as companies like Dell, which was already becoming more flexible for remote work due to the tight labor market , are struggling to recruit freshly minted technology graduates. at their corporate centers, said Steven Pedigo, a professor who studies economic development at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Instead of staying in Austin, are you going to New York, Seattle or the Bay Area? I think it’s a real possibility,” Pedigo said. “It gets a lot harder, especially when you look at a young, progressive workforce, which is what technology workers are usually.”
Emily M. Dickens, chief of staff and head of government affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management, said in a statement that nearly a quarter of organizations in a recent survey agreed to offer a health savings account for cover travel for reproductive care elsewhere. The state will improve its ability to compete for talent.
“But how these policies interact with state laws is unclear, and employers should be aware of the legal risks involved,” he said.
Dickens noted that companies that use a third-party administrator to process claims on their behalf, usually large employers, are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act rather than state law. But companies that have to buy their own health insurance for their employees, usually small businesses, are subject to state regulations and have less flexibility when it comes to designing benefits.
Offering to cover travel expenses could also make businesses a target for anti-abortion lawmakers. In March, Texas State Representative Briscoe Cain, a Republican, sent a letter of cessation and withdrawal to Citigroup, saying it would propose legislation banning localities from doing business with any company that offers travel benefits to employees seeking abortions.
In his concurring opinion released Friday, Judge Brett Kavanaugh suggested it would be unconstitutional for one state to ban residents from traveling to another state for an abortion.
“From my point of view, the answer is based on the constitutional right to interstate travel,” Kavanaugh wrote.
But a corporation’s right to fund what would be an illegal act in another state is still questionable, argues Teresa Collett, a law professor at St. Louis University. Thomas.
“This is not a matter of interstate trade, per se,” he said. “So you’ll need the right plaintiff.”
Meanwhile, tech companies are facing tough questions about what they will do if some of their millions of customers in the U.S. are prosecuted for having abortions. Services such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft routinely deliver digital data sought by law enforcement agencies conducting criminal investigations. This has raised concerns for privacy advocates about those in charge of enforcing abortion laws using vintage apps, phone location data, and other sensitive online health information.
A letter Friday from four Democrats in Congress called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google and Apple’s phone tracking practices, warning that location IDs used for advertising could fall into the hands of prosecutors or hunters. rewards that seek to “hunt women who have obtained or are seeking an abortion”.
The Supreme Court ruling comes at a time when companies are increasingly dependent on women for jobs, and especially when they face a labor shortage across the country. Women now account for nearly 50 percent of the U.S. workforce, a dramatic 37.5 percent increase in 1970, three years before the Supreme Court ruled that abortions are legal in Roe vs. Wade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Investigation. ‘Labor Statistics.
Denial of access to abortion could further affect low-income workers because they typically have jobs with less protection and are also demanding, from loading groceries to store shelves to working as a health care assistant.
“As a direct result of this ruling, more women will be forced to choose between paying rent or traveling long distances to receive safe abortion care,” said Mary Kay Henry, international president of the International Union of Employees of Services, which represents about 2 million people. janitors, health workers and teachers in the US “Working women are already struggling in jobs with poverty wages without paid leave and many also take on the responsibilities of caring for their families, usually unpaid.”
Sara Nelson, president of the Flight Assistants Association, told The Associated Press that the sentence was “devastating.”
“It cuts to the core of all the work our union has done for 75 years,” he said. “This decision is not about whether or not someone supports abortion. This is the distraction … It is about whether or not we respect women’s rights to determine their own future.”
Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, said a good handful of companies are approaching the court ruling because their customers and employees are waiting for them to rule.
“We are at this point where we expect corporate leaders to be leaders in the political arena as well,” he said. “Many employees expect to work in companies that not only pay them well, but whose values are aligned with theirs.”
But the vast majority of executives are likely to avoid the thorny issue and focus on things like inflation or supply chain disruptions, he said.
This also carries risks.
“They can support travel for out-of-state care and risk demands and the anger of local politicians, or they can’t include that coverage and risk employee anger,” Schweitzer said.
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Matt O’Brien, AP business writer in Providence, Rhode Island; Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit; Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco; David Koenig in Dallas and Ken Sweet in New York contributed to the story.
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