Large American companies assure it: they will allow their employees to have an abortion despite the recent decision of the Supreme Court.
A pro-abortion public position
The movement was launched by the boss of the Yelp site, Jeremy Stoppelman:
“The Supreme Court’s decision endangers women’s health, disenfranchises them, and threatens to undo the progress we’ve made toward gender equality in the workplace,” Stoppelman said.
Business leaders must speak up now and call on Congress to enshrine this principle in law
Jeremy Stoppelman
Few companies have sent such a radical message. But several undertake that their employees – wherever they work – have access to a legal and medically safe abortion (and therefore in a State where it remains legal), even if it means paying for it completely, transport included.
A movement from Texas, from September 2021
Yelp and Airbnb had offered it in September for their employees in Texas, when this very conservative state had considerably limited access to abortion. Others had followed, such as Citigroup, Tesla or Amazon.
At the beginning of May, when the decision of the Supreme Court became probable, Starbucks, Levi Strauss or even JPMorgan Chase also committed to it. This Friday, Disney joined them: “The company is committed to providing [aux salariées concernées] access to quality care, wherever they live. »
Seduce young graduates
It is also a question of retaining the talents of tomorrow: a survey carried out among young American graduates in 2021 showed that anti-abortion legislation alone would discourage more than two-thirds from accepting a position in Texas.
Amazon paid $974,718 to anti-abortion political committees, while promising that it would fund up to $4,000 in travel expenses per year for any employee wishing to have an abortion in an “authorized” state. Ditto for AT&T ($1.5 million), Citi ($685,000), or even Google ($525,718).
The prize goes to Coca-Cola, which has paid more than 2.6 million dollars to anti-abortion political committees, while carrying an openly pro-abortion public discourse.
American political life is largely financed by the private sector, which sometimes hopes to win the good graces of elected officials. Even if the sums paid may seem insignificant with regard to the finances of these companies, they clash with their public positions.
Double-edged
Still, such positions are a double-edged sword, which pushes many firms to remain silent – including among those who offer the same guarantees:
On the one hand, they want to lead by example, because it’s important for their employees, on firearms, racism… But on abortion, the legal landscape will change
Maurice Schweitzer, professor at Wharton University of Pennsylvania
According to Mr. Schweitzer, the VTC company Lyft could be sued, since it promises its drivers to cover their legal costs if they take a woman to have an abortion in another state.
Disney scalded in Florida
And this would be the case for any company that has changed its contracts in this area. To illustrate this, he recalls that in Florida the boss of Disney had, under pressure from his employees, ended up openly condemning a law which prohibited certain learning about sexual orientation in primary school.
Immediate anger of the ultra-conservative governor of the state: Ron DeSantis had put an end to the very advantageous tax status enjoyed by the DisneyWorld park in Florida since the 1960s.
In the end, according to Schweitzer, the consequences for Disney were doubly negative: frustrated employees that it did not take a stand sooner, and financial losses after it did.