The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly was one of the most vocal opponents of a sweeping anti-abortion law that passed in its home state of Indiana, last August, saying that the measure would make it hard to attract talent and would force it to look outside the state for growth.
But in the weeks and months that followed, Lilly continued to financially support Republican candidates and politicians who support bans on abortion across the country, including many who celebrated the reversal of Roe v Wade.
It was not alone.
A Guardian analysis of other major US companies’ political donations shows that those who suggested they would help female employees skirt statewide abortion bans, by offering to pay for out-of-state medical costs for those seeking abortions in states where the option was illegal, continued to financially back candidates who have called for abortion bans. They include Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Comcast, Citigroup, AT&T and Amazon.
The analysis suggests that while some of America’s largest employers want to be seen as supporting reproductive health for their female workers and their families, the abortion issue has not affected their financial support for Republican candidates who have promised to further erode those workers’ reproductive rights.
Lilly made financial contributions to Texas state senators anti-choice Republicans Charles Schwertner and Charles Perry, and Texas state speaker Dade Phelan, who has said he does not see any need to change Texas’s current law, which forces women who have been raped to carry their pregnancies to term.
Since Roe was overturned, Lilly has also given financial donations to US senators Rand Paul, Oklahoma’s James Lankford, and Mike Crapo, among others who supported overturning abortion rights. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Amazon, the second-largest private employer in the US, said it would cover out-of-state abortion travel for employees on its healthcare plan, but not contractors who make up most of its workforce.
But even as it vowed to help some of its female workers get access to abortion care, it continued to support Republican candidates like Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who wrote in an op-ed for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that the fight against abortion was “really just beginning”.
“We will always stand for the rights of the unborn until abortion is not only illegal in all 50 states, but unconscionable,” he wrote.
Amazon’s political action committee also gave donations to David Valadao, a California Republican who co-sponsored a “life at conception” act, which states that it would guarantee a right to life at the “moment of fertilization”, and Tony Gonzales, who has an A+ rating from anti-choice group Susan B Anthony List. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
AT&T, the US telecommunications company, has said it would cover the cost of travel for medical procedures within 100 miles of an employee’s home address because it values the health of its employees to make sure they can access “a full range of health care benefits when they need them”.
But the company has also supported dozens of Republican candidates since the 24 June decision to overrule Roe, including Texas’s Jodey Arrington, who has called abortion “a moral stain on the fabric of America” and supports a federal ban on abortion. It has also donated to Greg Steube, a Florida Republican who has said that, with Roe overturned “no misguided judicial decision can block states from applying murder and assault statutes to protect the unborn from abortion”. In Georgia, it supported Republican Andrew Clyde, who has said abortion should be “abolished entirely” except if the mother’s life is at risk, and Barry Loudermilk, who has tweeted the work of the pro-life community was “just beginning” after the Dobbs decision that overturned a federal right to abortion. In Maryland, AT&T supported Republican congressman Andy Harris, who said Dobbs had not created a crisis in healthcare, and Jack Bergman of Michigan who supports a federal ban on abortion.
An AT&T spokesperson said the company’s political action committee has “never based contribution decisions on a legislator’s position on abortion”.
The spokesperson added: “Our employee Pacs contribute to candidates in both parties and focus on policies and regulations that are important to investing in broadband networks and hiring, developing and retaining a skilled workforce with competitive wages and benefits. It is inaccurate to assert that contributions to elected officials equate to supporting all of their policy positions.”
In the aftermath of Dobbs, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta said it would reimburse travel expenses “to the extent permitted by law” for those who need to access out-of-state healthcare and reproductive services. But it also supported – among others – candidates like Don Bacon of Nebraska and Bob Latta of Ohio who co-sponsored a bill to ban abortions federally. A Meta spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Citibank has said post-Dobbs that it would provide travel benefits to employees who need “access to adequate resources” but continued to support Republican candidates who support a national ban on abortion, like John Hoeven of North Dakota. It also donated to Jerry Moran of Kansas, who has said life begins at conception and “supports legislation protecting life at its earliest stages and in all conditions”.
Kara Findlay, head of corporate communications at Citi, declined to comment.
Comcast, the parent company of NBC Universal, has said it would support thousands of dollars of medically necessary travel expenses after Roe was overturned, but continued to make political donations to Republicans who support abortion bans, like Benjamin Cline of Virginia, who once proposed legislation that would mark the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision as the “Day of Tears”, which would commemorate “59 million lives lost” due to abortion services being protected.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Are you an employee at one of these companies and have a tip? Please contact: Stephanie.Kirchgaessner@theguardian.com