The nationwide shift would trigger profound logistics and cultural challenges for companies and workers.
The news this week caught corporate America off-guard, resulting in a barrage of worried emails and phone calls trailing into the night as corporate officials grappled with the realization that the slew of state abortion laws were simply dress rehearsals for a bigger, nationwide policy shift.“The communication with corporate parties has just been nonstop,” said Jen Stark, senior director at Tara Health Foundation, an investment firm focused on gender and racial equity.
As states have tightened abortion restrictions in recent years — including in Georgia, Missouri and Alabama — companies have faced increased pressure from shareholders on these topics, too. San Francisco-based Yelp, the online business review website, was one of the few outspoken firms. The company said in a statement it opposed overturningand warned that the ruling would have “a seismic impact on our society and economy.” Another San Francisco-based company, clothing firm Levi Strauss, said in a statement that business leaders need to support reproductive right “including abortion” and called it “a critical business issue.
“They are looking to corporations as one of the last lines to defend democracy,” he said. “That is a role corporations have not felt since World War II.” TJX Companies, which owns T.J. Maxx clothing stores, is dealing with a shareholder proposal asking the firm to start reporting on the risk from restrictions on reproductive rights.