“Reproductive choice” on the cheap

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a chorus of large companies began publicizing new HR policies that would help pay for employees’ out-of-state travel to receive abortions.

Among them were the likes of Amazon, Bank of America, Citigroup, CNN and more. How kind of corporate America to “help” their female employees avoid maternity leave and miss months of work by encouraging abortions. 

It’s the sexual revolution all over again, with women hoodwinked into believe sexual freedom was to their benefit—and not the men for which consequence-free sex now prevailed. 

Quick to jump on to culturally relevant, pro-abortion propaganda, these companies hoped to gain street cred for their modern approach to “reproductive justice.” But a quick glance at the numbers reveals a different story. While corporations hustle to cover abortion costs, they reveal their real intentions in other numbers.

A new report from the Wall Street Journal shows that the share of employers offering paid maternity leave benefits beyond legal requirements dropped to 35 percent this year. This is down from 53 percent in 2020. Perhaps hoping the changes are small enough to go unnoticed, companies like Hulu and others are chopping benefits and programs like paternity leave. 

So do companies support all “reproductive choices” or just the ones that cost them the least? After all, a plane ride and a hotel room for two nights may cost a total of $1,000 but 3 months of paid maternity leave? Well, that’s in a different zip code of cost depending on the position. 

At the end of the day, corporate America’s plan was simply to garner positive PR and virtue signal their way to greater popularity. And while these companies do often have the best maternity leave plans in the country, they are also motivated by little more than a better bottom line.

There probably won’t be that many employees facing a situation like this, but it’s fair to question policies that are conveniently aligned with chic politics and serve to magnify patent virtue signaling. Just like the men who get away with consequence-free sex, women will still bear the burden of pregnancy and the trauma of an abortion, no matter who pays for it.

These policies won’t affect the majority of those who seek abortions anyway. Most of them are poor and don’t hold office at cushy corporations with high-level benefits. And beyond hoping an abortion will help save them from digging deeper into poverty, they usually have much bigger problems to confront, like providing for other children, paying rent, and finding consistent social or spiritual support. No workplace policy or stranger on the internet posting a pro-abortion meme of faux support is going to be there for a woman sinking into depression or scraping together daycare money. 

In reality, most women don’t want to abort. The Human Coalition found that 75 percent of abortion-minded women said they would “prefer to parent” if circumstances were different. If Target and Citibank told pregnant women they had a year of paid maternity leave and access to free diapers and formula, would they still have an abortion? If the answer is “no,” then they don’t really want one. These companies are encouraging women to ignore their God-given instinct not to abort. Not all companies can or should offer such an extravagant paid leave plan, but if the sole reason for abortion is financial, there have to be better ways to support women.

After Roe was overturned, there was an online meme shared widely that read, “If you are a person that finds yourself with a need to go camping, in another state friendly towards camping, just know that I will happily drive you, support you and not talk about the camping trip to anyone ever.”

It was a smug post to share for those who wanted 100 percent self-righteous messaging and 0 percent responsibility. Few would actually welcome a stranger into their family’s home to help them get an abortion out of state. It’s not safe, practical, or smart. And how many of these folks would pledge to help a woman financially indefinitely if it turned out she really wanted to keep her baby?

You’ll find millions of pro-life people ready and willing to do this every day, faithfully giving and serving in the name of life around the clock at pregnancy centers, maternity homes, in organizations, within foster care, adoption agencies and more.

The Wall Street Journal report may not reflect every company participating in the abortion travel publicity stunt, but it’s a stark reminder that this isn’t about women—it’s about company reputation. It’s about shoring the responsibility from men, or the workplace, to bear the financial burden of an unexpected pregnancy. It’s about tricking women into believing that sexual freedom and complimentary abortions have anything to do with their best interest.