Companies Covering Abortion Travel Costs: What to Know and Potential Problems
Feminist-advocacy organization UltraViolet has done its own research into corporations funding antichoice candidates or their associated PACs. According to UltraViolet, AT&T gave just under $5 million — 59% of the company’s total political giving in 2020 — to antichoice candidates or their PACs. Disney gave about $450,000 (53% of its political giving in 2020), and Uber donated about $280,000 in 2020 (42% of its political giving that year) to antichoice candidates and their PACs.
The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), a national organization devoted to getting Republican attorneys general elected, has also received thousands from some of these same corporations that have been promoting their seemingly progressive employee benefits, as detailed in a newsletter by Popular Information. One of RAGA’s members was a seminal figure behind Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that led to the fall of Roe. According to Popular Information’s reporting on contributions made since January 1, 2021, Comcast donated $216,000 to RAGA; AT&T donated $125,000; T-Mobile donated $100,000; Uber donated $50,000; and JPMorgan and Mastercard donated $25,000 each. Teen Vogue reached out to all of the companies above for comment. According to a spokesperson for Mastercard, the company has had no relationship with the Democratic or Republican Attorneys General Association in 2022.
The issue of money in politics has been simmering for years, and the corporate hypocrisy revealed in the wake of Roe being overturned is a prime example of why. According to Teen Vogue’s Midterm Vibe Check survey, in partnership with Change Research, a whopping 95% of respondents give the current state of money in politics a “poor or not so good” ranking. It’s also worth noting that 76% of those surveyed said they don’t trust either major political party on the issue. Of the 13 specific issues addressed, respondents trust both parties the least on money in politics.
Additionally, companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta tout progressive employee benefits while also managing digital products that allow them to moderate content, remove posts, collect data from users, or share sensitive user data. Already, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram have reportedly been removing posts that mention abortion pills, which are a safe way to carry out self-managed abortions. According to a spokesperson for Meta, the post removals were due to an internal moderation that impacted more than abortion-related posts, and the issue that has since been fixed. The spokesperson also reiterated Meta’s existing content policy prohibiting the buying, selling, trading, or donating of pharmaceuticals, suggesting that some posts about abortion pills might’ve been removed under that rule.
Some of the same questions about data privacy and data sharing that arose around the use of period-tracking apps extend to digital platforms, social media apps, and smartphone data. Advocates worry that personal data collected by these services could be used as evidence in a criminal or civil case. Meta’s spokesperson said the company does comply with government requests for data, but they “scrutinize” each request and “only produce information that is narrowly tailored to that request.” Teen Vogue also reached out to Apple and Google.
Many legal experts have noted, too, that businesses that provide travel benefits could face lawsuits from those in conservative states eager to test the limits of their state’s power to enforce antiabortion laws. Some legislators could even enact new laws to crack down on the exact kinds of employer-provided workarounds that companies are promoting. Any social or cultural capital a brand might be receiving from public announcements to support its employees likely won’t outweigh potential legal challenges in the future.
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