The Essential Questions Facing Employers on Abortion Rights

BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza | July 01, 2022

When corporate America was called on to speak out in favor of same-sex marriage and racial justice, few hesitated. On the supremely divisive issue of abortion, however, corporate leaders face much tougher decisions. Despite the leak of the majority opinion in the Supreme Court’s hearing of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization almost two months before the official decision, employers are scrambling to understand what the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the removal of reproductive rights means for their employees.

The list of questions companies will have to address in the coming months is growing–and changing. For now, employers are thinking immediately about public statements, in the middle distance about health care coverage, and over the long term about whether they will contribute to the fight to regain reproductive choice. Among the most essential questions:

What Kind of Position Will You Take on Abortion Access?

Rather than condemning the ruling itself, most corporate leaders framed the issue as a matter of employee reproductive rights. “I believe CEOs have a responsibility to take care of their employees–no matter what,” Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff said in a tweet. “As a company,” Hewlett Packard CEO Enrique Lores tweeted, “we believe that it should be up to every single one of our employees to decide whether and when to start a family, whether that’s choosing who they love and marry, taking paid time off if they are having a child, and having access to health care.” But many other major corporations, including Walmart, Coca-Cola, and Delta Airlines, stayed mum on the issue.

As businesses consider their public message, Susan McPherson, who runs McPherson Strategies, a company that consults on corporate social responsibility (CSR), recommends considering this question: “Do our company values and giving align with the statement we are making? Align with our philanthropic and political spend?”

McPherson warned about inconsistency. “Making a public statement in support but not providing any tangible benefits to workers,” she said, is the first mistake employers are likely to make. “Words matter less than actions,” she told From Day One via email.

The second is being insincere. “If your company speaks out against something but you have donated to political campaigns or PACs that support it, workers and consumers will call out that inauthenticity, and the company will suffer the consequences.” For example, AT&T celebrates Women’s Equality Day, but is the biggest corporate donor to politicians behind anti-abortion “trigger laws” designed to ban abortion upon the defeat of Roe v. Wade, Insider reported.

Not every company will be able to make a public statement about access to abortion rights without losing customers and employees. “We recognize people feel passionately about this topic, and that there are teammates and athletes who will not agree with this decision,” said Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Lauren Hobart in announcing financial support for employees who decide to travel to have an abortion in states where it remains legal.

Even if a company decides to neither publicly endorse nor condemn, “first and foremost, don’t pretend that this didn’t happen,” said Sarah Sheehan, co-founder and president of the employee-coaching platform Bravely. “I do think it’s possible to acknowledge in a very neutral way that this decision has repercussions and that there are a lot of feelings surrounding it that may impact how people show up at work,” she told From Day One.

Does Your Health Care Plan Cover Abortion Services in States Where It Is Legal?

Employers are examining whether their current health care plans cover abortion, and if not, whether they will make changes. Many high-profile companies including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Nike and Starbucks have said they will cover travel and health care costs related to getting an abortion in a state where it is legal.

Nike is among the high-profile companies that have promised to support employees who need to travel for abortions (Photo by Artran/iStock by Getty Images)

However, new abortion benefits won’t be available to most U.S. workers, according to a survey of 220 HR executives conducted this week by the Gartner consulting group, Bloomberg reported. A majority of the HR leaders in the survey said they don't plan to change their health care offerings, or are still considering options. This gap is likely to add to social inequality.

“To the extent that corporations are making any moves, they’re making moves with regard to the so-called talent—low-wage, hourly workers are not going to be getting these extra benefits,” Robert Reich, the secretary of labor under President Clinton, told Boomberg in an interview. “It’s a cover. It’s a sweetener. It makes people feel as if the right things are happening.”

Employers that have added travel costs to their health care offerings will, in the coming months, wade through the administration of such a benefit in a way that satisfies compliance requirements and protects the workers who use it. They will have to navigate state-by-state legal issues as well. Texas lawmakers have warned companies including Citigroup and Lyft that they may ban or sue companies that help employees travel out of state for abortions.

How Will You Protect the Confidentiality of Employees Who Seek Abortion Care?

For companies that choose cover or reimburse the cost of travel for abortion care, confidentiality should be a concern. Employees may feel compelled to disclose the reason for their absence to their manager or HR director—information that could put them at risk of discrimination. “You shouldn’t have to tell your manager you're getting an abortion,” Aubrey Blanch, a senior director at the employee-survey firm Culture Amp, told the New York Times.

Whether such travel puts them at legal risk in states that have made abortion illegal is not clear yet, but suddenly digital privacy is a critical issue, since evidence of a crime may reside in a woman’s smartphone. The Dobbs ruling inspired many women to delete their period-tracker apps, which have become part of many corporate family-health benefits. One of the most popular apps, Flo, announced an “anonymous mode” to allow users to remove identifying details from their profiles.

One way to protect employee privacy is to make abortion benefits non-specific, said Janine Yancey, CEO of Emtrain, an employee-learning platform. The more generic the policy, the better. “Employers are doing it right by drafting a health care benefit that can be used for all health care situations, not just for abortion situations.” She continued: “Employers can provide a generic travel subsidy to all employees who need to travel for health care needs, and the use of that benefit is protected health care information, protected by HIPAA.”

Do You Risk Losing Employees Over Abortion Access?

McPherson said employers should be asking the question, “What are the ramifications, both in employee retention and financially, of not responding or taking a stand?” The American workforce is increasingly principled in its choices. Gartner reported in 2019 that 87% of employees say businesses should make a public stand on societal issues related to the business, and 74% say they should do so even when the issues aren’t directly related to the business.

In the case of access to reproductive care, it’s likely that no matter the position a company takes, some employees will walk. The workers with resources will have the means to leave, and those without resources and without social supports, will not. Salesforce and Google said they would move employees who want to leave states where abortion is banned. Despite such corporate beneficence, the Dobbs ruling puts a new geographical limit on women’s career choices, asserted Tressie McMillan Cottom, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, writing in the New York Times. “With Roe v. Wade toppled, we do not have the same rights in all labor markets,” she wrote. “In a global market, an empowered worker is one who can migrate. With Dobbs, women cannot assume that we can safely work in Idaho the same way that we can in Oregon or Washington.”

How Will You Protect Other Rights That Are Now at Risk?

The fall of Roe v. Wade raised concerns that the ruling conservative majority on the Supreme Court could roll back other civil rights as well, including same-sex marriage and contraception. Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion in the Dobbs case, said the court “should reconsider” earlier precedents that affirmed such rights.

Given the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, employers should start thinking now how they will protect the rights of their employees–and respond to their fears. Employers need to be aware that overturning Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed the right to same-sex marriage, would compromise “access to employer-sponsored health coverage and retirement plans, as well as adoption and fertility benefits, and would leave room for employers to redefine who would qualify as a dependent for employees seeking parental or caregiving leave,” said a report by Charter, an organization that examines workplace practices.

While last week’s decision was not a surprise, especially after the leak of a draft in early May, some employers waited to respond and are now racing to catch up with what is shaping up as a new battlefront in the culture wars. Companies should take the language in the official decision as a serious warning that other rights are now on the table.

How Will You Contribute to State and Federal Action to Protect Reproductive Health Care Rights?

Corporate leaders have been steadily taking a higher profile on social issues, typically with their stakeholders in mind. In the early 2010s, corporate America appealed to the Supreme Court in favor of same-sex marriage. Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, employers pledged money to racial-justice organizations like Black Likes Matter and the NAACP. When the Russian government invaded Ukraine in February 2022, major companies, including McDonald’s and American Express, halted operations in Russia.

Part of the explanation is peer pressure, asserts Stephanie Creary, an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School. “What we’re seeing right now in many companies is a really strong response to external advice, recommendations, pressure to engage more intently around social issues,” she said last month in a radio interview. She has even noticed an increase in hiring of executives with the title “director of employee activism.”

Even so, the abortion issue may be a bridge too far for most companies. The June poll by Gartner found 20% of HR executives don’t feel compelled to respond in any way to the official Dobbs decision. Thirty-six percent said they aren’t sure. Yet polls consistently show that a majority of Americans oppose the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Among women and college graduates, the majorities are even larger.

Those majorities will notice employer timidity on the issue, McPherson told From Day One, and it won’t be long before many consumers do too. “Now more than ever, companies are being challenged to take a stand publicly on social issues that matter,” McPherson said. “Younger workers, in particular, want to know that their company’s values align with their own. This isn’t an issue that’s going away. Businesses are going to continue to be held to account for their speech or silence on things like reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights. It’s past time to have a plan in place to take a stand.”

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance writer based in Richmond, Virginia. She writes about the workplace, DEI, hiring, and issues faced by women. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Fast Company, and Food Technology, among others.


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