How Have Corporations Responded to Supreme Court’s Overturning of Roe v. Wade?

Image: Supreme Court members as of June 2022. Source: Supreme Court of the United States

In a landmark June 2022 decision, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade by a narrow 5-4 margin. The decision enables states to outlaw abortion, returning the issue to the states and taking it away from the Federal government. Some states will now allow abortions, while others will ban them.

For decades, emotions have run high on both sides of the abortion issue since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, when the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion.

In Dobbs v Jackson, the Court examined Mississippi’s abortion laws, ruling that the US Constitution does not confer any right to abortion, overruling Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). Whichever side of the issue you stand on, the case has wide-ranging economic and social ramifications and will likely be an issue in the upcoming mid-term elections.

Individuals will need to make decisions

• The costs of raising children are high.
• Inflation is only exacerbating those expenses.
• Those living on a tight budget face tough choices.

Some states ban abortion, while it is legal in others

• Abortion is already banned in Wisconsin, Alabama, and Kentucky.
• Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee will likely ban abortion.
• In many other states, the procedure remains legal.

A hot-potato political issue

• Some members of Congress are searching for ways around the Supreme Court ruling.
• Suggestions include setting up abortion clinics on Federal land and setting aside the filibuster to legislate legalized US abortion.
• The divided Senate makes the odds of success low.
• Protests have been accelerating.

Companies have taken a position

• Some publicly traded companies have decided to pay expenses for employees to travel to other states for the procedure.
• Before the Supreme Court’s decision, Starbucks (SBUX), Tesla (TSLA), Yelp (YELP), Airbnb (ABNB), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), Patagonia, DoorDash (DASH), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Levi Strauss (LEVI), PayPal (PYPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Reddit came out with policies covering travel expenses for employees needing abortions.
• The Walt Disney Company (DIS), Meta Platforms (META), Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), and Conde Nast joined them after the Supreme Court ruling.
• Other companies will likely follow.

Increasing medical costs could impact earnings

• Companies already face skyrocketing employee health expenses after the global pandemic.
• Abortion expenses will only increase the costs and could weigh on future earnings and share prices.
• The Supreme Court decision has wide-ranging economic and social ramifications.

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Equities News Contributor: Tradier Inc.

Source: Equities News