Your Employees' Reproductive Choices Are Your Business
Center for Reproductive Rights
After nearly 50 years of protection, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has terminated Constitutional protection of a women’s right to choose.
What a shock this is for younger generations who were born with that right and have taken it for granted. I have tremendous empathy for them because I know what it’s like to live in a world without the right to choose.
As a longtime activist for gender and racial equality, I’ve been in the fight for reproductive rights since the 60s and 70s and I intend to keep on fighting.
In 1973, I was already 21 when Roe v. Wade was decided. I grew up in the 60s in a world where young and unmarried women could not get access to any kind of reproductive care—not even birth control.
A lot has changed for me in since then. I now own and run a company, Michael Stars, and have more than 100 employees. I am responsible for providing them with health insurance—ensuring that it covers all forms of reproductive healthcare.
Now with 26 states who have already or are likely to enact abortion bans, business leaders—even those who say they “stay out of politics”—will have to become activists, if only to ensure that all their employees have access to reproductive healthcare—no matter where they live.
Covering your employees
Even though Michael Stars is a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME), we have employees in states with abortions bans including Texas and Georgia. We are joining the growing number of large corporations who are working to bridge the inequity gap that will start to widen as the abortion bans kick in.
Michael Stars' health insurance will continue to cover reproductive health benefits including contraception, sterilization, and abortion services for all of our employees, regardless of where they live. We will also cover travel, food, and lodging expenses and provide paid time off for employees who need to travel out of state to access care. We will continue to take action to alleviate the burden this ruling will place on our employees.
Source: Guttmacher Institute
We were also inspired by Patagonia's activism which very much reflects our own. They were the first company to announce that they would cover bail for any employees who are arrested at peaceful abortion protests. We will follow suit and I hope many other companies will as well!
Beyond HR policy
Companies will have to do more than change their HR policies to stand up for their employees.
They will need to make it clear that they expect the states they operate in to support access to all forms of reproductive care. They can apply pressure on lawmakers to pass legislation that will protect reproductive rights. They can stop contributing to political candidates and lobbying efforts that support bans on abortion. They can also support organizations such as the National Abortion Funds Network, which helps remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access faced by many communities.
At Michael Stars, we incorporate our advocacy into campaigns around the issues that matter to our customers: our voter engagement initiative with Gloria Steinem, Voto Latino, and Black Voters Matter to help create a democracy that reflects who we are as a country; and our support of the ERA Coalition through our “Feminism is for Everybody” campaign.
We also joined the corporate-led “Don’t Ban Equality” initiative in 2019. I don’t think I’ve ever seen companies so strongly and clearly take a stand against abortion bans.
As of today, more than 300 business leaders have signed on to publicly oppose the bans—clearly stating that these bans undercut their efforts to create an equal workplace and go against their company values.
When our company publicly announced our support for the initiative, we did receive some negative feedback from people telling us to stick to fashion and to stay out of politics. However, those voices were outnumbered by the amazing support we received. Our customers have come to expect that we will use our platform to step up, speak out, and support the issues that impact gender and racial equality.
Companies reluctant to take a stand should consider that by and large, American workers want to live in places where abortion is legal and accessible. A Tara Health Foundation/Morning Consult survey in March (2022) found that:
Working adults by a 2-to-1 margin said they would prefer to live in a state where abortion is legal and accessible, rather than illegal and inaccessible. The study also found that 71 percent of respondents said a state’s social policies should be a factor in a decision to move there.
Do you stand for your employees or against them?
The time has finally come where every single company in the U.S. will have to decide if they stand with their employees or against them.
Will we willingly discriminate against employees by allowing the states in which they work to restrict access to reproductive health benefits?
Or, will we stand up for them by protecting their right to choose and ensuring they have access to the reproductive healthcare they need?
Acting now to change policy and take a stance against the bans, sends a powerful message to your employees—that you’re willing to stand for them and with them in the fight ahead.
