Over 180 CEOs signed a full-page pro-abortion ad in Monday’s New York Times with the strange and undescriptive title, “Don’t Ban Equality.” Left-wing big businesses, including Ben & Jerry’s, H&M, and Tinder (of course) signed the ad, stating, “[i]t’s time for companies to stand up for reproductive healthcare.”
These companies claim “comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion” is necessary to “build diverse and inclusive workforce pipelines.”
There is some great irony here, as abortion disproportionately kills children of color. Sixty-four percent of women who obtain abortions in the U.S. are either African American or Hispanic, according to a 2017 report from Kaiser Health News. Abortion is the reason the black share of the U.S. population is shrinking, not growing. So abortion actually makes it harder for businesses to hire a diverse workforce, not easier.
These companies also claim that anti-abortion legislation prevents them from “recruit[ing] top talent from across the states.” But how is this so? If anti-abortion laws are so terrible and if pro-abortion laws are so wonderful, we would see people fleeing red states and moving to the blue states where many of these companies, such as Ben & Jerry’s, Postmates and Square Inc., are headquartered.
What we are seeing, however, is people leaving blue states such as California and New York for states with lower taxes and greater economic mobility. If these companies were truly concerned about their ability to recruit top talent, they’d focus on reforming tax policy, not abortion policy.
The businesses also claim to “stand against policies that hinder people’s health, independence and ability to fully succeed in the workplace.” But do these liberals also support a worker’s “independence” when he declines to join a union he doesn’t like? What about small business owners’ “independence” when they choose not to cater events that celebrate what they believe is morally wrong? I kinda doubt it.
This continued animosity towards anti-abortion legislation is ridiculous and, in this instance, misdirected. If these companies are wondering why they don’t have more diverse work environments with greater worker independence, they should look in the mirror.
