Business finally speaks out for abortion rights in Texas

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September 22, 2021

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The WNBA has a new retail partner, few female leaders address the UN General Assembly, and business is finally speaking out for abortion rights. Have a great Wednesday.
– Don’t Ban Equality, take two. It took almost a month, but business is speaking out about Texas’s abortion ban. Yesterday, more than 50 companies signed an updated version of the “Don’t Ban Equality” letter that argues that abortion restrictions are bad for business. (Companies first signed onto the statement amid a rash of state anti-abortion legislation in 2019.)
Signees agree that they “stand against policies that hinder people’s health, independence, and ability to fully succeed in the workplace.” The companies that signed onto this letter fall into a few buckets. Most are startups or relatively small companies; many are female-led; and several compelled to speak out this time around are based in Texas or have a significant presence in the state. There’s Austin-based Bumble and OJO Labs; tech companies like Stitch Fix, Box, and Lyft; and women-led brands like Glossier and Madewell.
Still missing from the group? The biggest of Big Tech. (Read more from Bloomberg about why that is and what those companies have done—or not—instead.)
So what can the voices of these businesses accomplish in the battle to preserve abortion rights? To drive home the gravity of the Texas legislation, the group notes the damage to the state so far. “The economic losses from existing abortion restrictions, including labor force impact and earnings, already cost the State of Texas an estimated $14.5 billion annually. Nationally, state-level restrictions cost state economies $105 billion dollars per year,” the letter says, citing data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Data like that is compelling—but it hasn’t been enough so far to prevent GOP lawmakers from pursuing this kind of legislation. Organizers told the WSJthat, more than just Texas, they hope the letter signals to other states considering similar bans that companies are ready to take their business elsewhere.
While the business case against abortion bans likely won’t turn back the clock on the current status of reproductive rights in Texas, these public statements do mean something. The Texas law took so many business leaders by surprise that, for weeks, their silence was notable. These companies aren’t staying silent anymore—and that’s a start.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

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