Companies Are More Vocal Than Ever on Social Issues. Not on Abortion.

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/business/abortion-roe-wade-companies.html

Companies Are More Vocal Than Ever on Social Issues. Not on Abortion.
The corporate response to the Supreme Court’s Friday decision was more muted, and the companies that did speak out mostly talked about their health care policies.
By Emma Goldberg and Lora Kelley
June 24, 2022 Updated 8:50 p.m. ET

Companies had more than a month to formulate a response to the end of federal abortion rights in the United States, if they didn’t weigh in immediately after a draft opinion was leaked in May.

But when the final decision arrived in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on Friday, relatively few had anything to say about the outcome.

Most stayed silent, including some companies that are known for speaking out on social issues such as Black Lives Matter and L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Some of the corporations that blacked out their Instagram pages in 2020 or featured rainbow flags on their websites for Pride Month have so far been hesitant to comment on abortion.

“Executives are feeling some trepidation around this,” said Dave Fleet, the head of global digital crisis at Edelman, a consulting firm. “They’re concerned about backlash because they know there’s no way to please everyone.”

Many of the businesses that did make public statements on Friday opted to address the way the Supreme Court’s decision would affect their workers’ access to health care. In some cases they avoided the word “abortion” altogether, perhaps aiming for a more palatable response.

“We have processes in place so that an employee who may be unable to access care in one location has affordable coverage for receiving similar levels of care in another location,” Disney executives wrote in a memo to staff, adding that this included “family planning (including pregnancy-related decisions).”

[musette_sf]

1. I am awaiting a corporate statement on this

from my employer. The company is very publicly invested in D&I.

So far, no statement has been made clearly and plainly asserting the same urgent call to action against injustice as every other D&I initiative has.

There was a message today from the selected insurance provider, stating that any covered employee who was forced to travel for safe and legal healthcare would have full travel expenses covered for the patient and a companion - and if the patient is a minor, two companions.

Well, okay. But on Monday there had better be a full-blooded assertion of outrage, tragedy, and support of reproductive justice from leadership.

[musette_sf]

4. Update: well, there's a statement today

on the corporate intranet. Compared with the many powerful D&I statements on other injustices of recent years and months, it’s extremely weak sauce, couched in a fuzzy “we are committed to gender equity but we want to recognize the topic’s sensitivity”.

I am feeling like I have felt many, many times over the last 50 years: women’s essential humanity taking a back seat once again. Be quiet because “sensitivity”.

[iemanja]

2. A number have offered to fly women who need abortions out of state

Walt Disney and Netflix, JPMorgan, Amazon, and others.

[dalton99a]

3. The vast majority of women don't work for the companies mentioned in the news