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In response to information from the Abortion Injustice Marketing campaign led by Floridians for Reproductive Freedom, between 2020 and 2022, dozens of Florida companies gave tens of millions in marketing campaign donations to anti-abortion lawmakers who voted for Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, which was signed into legislation by Gov. Ron DeSantis final month. At the least seven of these corporations, together with Disney, Comcast, and AT&T, have mentioned they are going to supply journey help to workers who search abortion care. Disney is the second-highest donor, having given $927,359.81 to anti-abortion lawmakers in Florida since 2020. Comcast has donated $393,000, and AT&T has donated $159,000. Different corporations which have donated to anti-abortion politicians within the state whereas providing paid abortion journey embrace NBC Common, Verizon, Walgreens, and Zillow. Prism reached out to representatives from every of those corporations, however none of them responded to a request for an interview.
“I would really like these companies to get up to the hypocrisy that they’re displaying,” mentioned Amy Weintraub, the reproductive rights program director for Progress Florida. “I would really like them to take duty for that and acknowledge that it’s due to the anti-abortion extremists that they’ve funded that we’re on this pickle, they usually’re having to expend extra cash now to be sure that their workers get the care that they want.”
Outdoors of Florida, in response to reporting from Enterprise Insider, AT&T contributed about $1.2 million to politicians who backed abortion set off legal guidelines throughout 13 states within the U.S. Bloomberg equally reported that Amazon and Disney donated 1000’s of {dollars} to Republican political motion committees (PACs) and candidates.
The abortion journey advantages come as a number of states banned abortions, with over 20 anticipated to comply with swimsuit. Since Texas’s Senate Invoice 8 went into impact final fall, abortion care suppliers in surrounding states, and even so far as Oregon, have reported a drastic improve in sufferers from Texas. Organizers have already seen this quantity rise since bans have begun throughout the South and different pockets of the nation. The Guttmacher Institute estimated a possible 234% improve in individuals touring to Oregon for abortion care now that the Supreme Court docket has formally overturned Roe v. Wade. In response to Piñeiro, 15% of their purchasers have come to Florida from out of state previously yr.
“If companies are actually going to be supporting their workers getting an abortion, possibly which means connecting with an abortion fund or the Nationwide Community of Abortion Funds to verify they aren’t permitting employees to perpetuate abortion stigma,” Piñeiro mentioned. “I feel there’s quite a bit that companies can do on this second apart from say that they’re going to help however then fund anti-abortion politicians.”
Disney’s “household planning” profit can be prolonged to any employee who can not entry care the place they reside, together with “pregnancy-related choices.” The corporate employs 195,000 individuals worldwide, together with about 80,000 in Florida. Dick’s Sporting Items, whose chairman has additionally donated 1000’s of {dollars} to Republican lawmakers, mentioned the corporate would supply $4,000 in journey expense reimbursement and that the profit will probably be provided to any “teammate, partner, or dependent” enrolled of their medical plan. A spokesperson from Dick’s mentioned they aren’t talking with media right now.
Abortion advocates query worker privateness protections
Abortion advocates have additionally raised issues concerning the logistics of the insurance policies—how the data will probably be disclosed and whether or not they may ultimately be reported to legislation enforcement.
“[Companies] have a possibility to actually present up for his or her employees,” Piñeiro mentioned. “However that chance is barely there in the event that they’re keen to guard the privateness of their employees who might have abortions. The best way that abortion stigma is so deeply ingrained in our expertise … providing to pay for individuals’s abortions was not the answer. It was at all times step one. Now they know they should take a number of steps again and take into consideration how they’re going to truly do this safely.”
At BuzzFeed, to make sure the abortion entry coverage course of stays completely confidential, the corporate has chosen to not use reimbursements and as a substitute gives a stipend. This may guarantee all the course of falls inside the HR division versus involving the finance division. Stipends are allowed for use on the worker’s discretion, and all the course of is handled as a confidential medical matter.
Representatives from Disney, AT&T, and Comcast didn’t reply to a request for extra particulars on the privateness protections, if any, of their insurance policies. At DoorDash, which has introduced an identical plan, a spokesperson mentioned they won’t be dealing with any reimbursements immediately with workers and as a substitute will probably be counting on a third-party administrator to handle the coverage below a Well being Reimbursement Association. These third-party directors are sure by federal HIPAA privateness legal guidelines, which might defend in opposition to state overreach and withhold data from anybody who is just not licensed to entry transaction particulars. However the coverage won’t be accessible to impartial contractors, together with Dashers, the individuals laboring to ship meals to clients’ doorways. As of 2021, DoorDash employed roughly 8,600 workers, however by 2017 there have been already over 100,000 Dashers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Piñeiro, who has been combating for abortion entry for the final decade, mentioned she was shocked to listen to that some corporations present these advantages given their notoriously dangerous remedy of employees. Different corporations providing advantages, together with Amazon and Starbucks, have been embroiled in an ongoing union-busting effort for over a yr.
“I might have by no means imagined that corporations can be popping out and doing this due to how poorly their employees are handled within the first place,” Piñeiro mentioned.
The insurance policies comply with a nationwide pattern that started with the racial uprisings in 2020 when corporations responded to historic cultural moments by partaking in performative acts of solidarity, like posting a black sq. on Instagram ostensibly in solidarity with Black Individuals. Advocates recommend the insurance policies are thinly veiled makes an attempt at capitalizing on the motion whereas garnering constructive PR.
“That is about altering the tradition of the way in which that corporations are responding to historic moments,” Piñeiro mentioned. “When the Black Lives Matter protests have been taking place two summers in the past, corporations felt like they wanted to say that to guard their model. However what’s the precise which means behind it?”
Piñeiro and Weintraub mentioned they hope corporations will take privateness issues into consideration when implementing these new advantages, and within the meantime hold their cash away from anti-abortion politicians and as a substitute direct assets to candidates whose values align with theirs.
Prism is an impartial and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of coloration. Our in-depth and thought-provoking journalism displays the lived experiences of individuals most impacted by injustice. We inform tales from the bottom as much as disrupt dangerous narratives, and to tell actions for justice. Join our e-newsletter to get our tales in your inbox, and comply with us on Twitter, Fb, and Instagram.
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