It is coming to bite them in the ass. Their holly grail banning abortion that they just won is causing major companies second thoughts on which horse they are backing.
Republicans have always said that they are pro-business but corporate businesses are starting to question that when the Republicans attacked Disney and now the Republicans are stepping on Citigroup’s toes over abortion rights. But with all the anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion laws being passed corporate America is saying “Wait a minute! We want to hire the best employees and they don’t want to go to conservative states.”
Corporate America buckles down for culture war on Roe v Wade
Republicans are mulling retaliation against firms providing benefits such as travel assistance for employees seeking abortion
Guardian
By Lauren Aratani
May 8, 2022
After a supreme court decision that overturns Roe v Wade was leaked and signaled the impending end of federal constitutional protection for abortions, a trickle of companies have slowly started to announce policies that provide abortion access for their employees. But while the protections may keep employees and consumers happy, the threat of retaliation from conservative lawmakers looms.Citigroup, one of the biggest banks in the US, quietly started covering the travel expenses of employees who want to get an abortion but are banned from getting one in their home state.
The Republicans are hopping mad over that!
Conservatives in Congress asked House and Senate administrators to cancel its contract with the company, which issues credit cards to lawmakers to use for work-related flights, office supplies and other goods. A state lawmaker in Texas, infuriated by Citigroup, introduced a bill that would prevent companies from doing business with local governments in Texas if they provide abortion-related benefits to their employees.
“Citigroup decided to pander to the woke ideologues in its C-suite instead of obeying the laws of Texas,” said Briscoe Cain, the Texas state representative who introduced the bill, in a statement. “We will enact laws necessary to prevent this misuse of shareholder money and hold Citigroup accountable for its violation of our state’s abortion laws”.
All of a sudden the Republicans are telling them how to run their businesses.
Over the last few years, corporate America has started to become more vocal on various issues that have gotten the attention of conservative lawmakers, including voting rights and LGBTQ+ issues. But conservative politicians have gotten bolder at fighting back against what they consider to be “woke capitalism”.
But the Republicans haven't woken to that fact yet… that they are butting into how companies run their businesses in supposedly "business friendly" states.
“We are at the moment everyone’s cried wolf about. It’s here, but there was also a lot of headwind,” she said. “What companies can do with a stroke of a pen to mitigate some of the harm is important, but the larger issue is getting out of this structural whirlpool that we’re in.”
The Republicans have just “woke” the sleeping giant but they haven’t figured it out.
Abortion Is a Business Issue
Women make up half of the work force, but the issue’s divisiveness has led many companies to keep quiet on the issue for now.
The New York Times
By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Vivian Giang, Stephen Gandel, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni, Jenny Gross and Anna Schaverien
May 4, 2022
After a Supreme Court draft ruling showed that Roe v. Wade may be overturned, many of America’s corporate leaders reacted with silence. Abortion is a business issue: Women make up more than half of the work force, and those who were unable to get abortions were less likely to be employed full time six months after denial of care, according to a 2018 paper.But abortion is also one of the most divisive topics in American politics, and the state of public opinion on the issue is complex. Most Americans support at least some access to abortion, and most support restrictions that Roe v. Wade does not permit. Companies choosing to offer new policies to support employees seeking abortions — or choosing not to — risks dividing customers, employees and clients.
[…]
Companies may start treating reproductive health as an employee benefit to attract talent. “We want to be able to recruit and retain employees wherever they might be living,” Yelp previously told DealBook. But that search for talent is complicated. Restrictive abortion laws have the biggest effects on low-wage workers, who cannot as easily afford to travel out of state for an abortion, and many of their employers, such as at Walmart and Kroger, are headquartered in Republican-led states. “If they’re facing enough of a labor shortage that they think it’ll matter in terms of hiring people at the rate that they want,” said Amanda Shanor, an assistant professor of constitutional law at the Wharton School, “then they might do something.”
And if like many Republicans start passing laws banning companies from paying for abortions and travel you might start seeing businesses start thinking twice about moving to conservative states because it will be affecting their bottom line in not being able to hire the best talent.
The Washington Post wrote,
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. “Companies that were gearing up for impact in June are feeling the reality set in now.”
[…]
Businesses with workers coast-to-coast might face logistical hurdles to providing equal access to health care in Texas vs. California. Entire parts of the country might be ruled in or out for new development and investment. Some companies might struggle to attract new hires to states with abortion bans, while other employees might seek out work only in those same areas.
“This issue is going to force a lot of companies to take a side,” said Laura Gitman, chief operating officer of the nonprofit business consultancy BSR.
To quote Jimi Hendrix, “Click bang, what a hang, your daddy just shot poor me.” the Republicans don’t know yet that they shot themselves in the foot.
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