U.S. companies are supporting women’s reproductive choice. Canadian businesses should follow suit

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As demonstrators took to the streets to protest the end of nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights in the United States, outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia, Inc. took a stand to support women.

The California-based company issued a pointed statement supporting reproductive choice on the very day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.

But Patagonia didn’t just offer pink-washed PR spin. It took action.

After all, America’s high court had trampled the dignity of women and girls, who constitute the majority of the U.S. population. Without a constitutional right to abortion, they lost control of their bodies and their economic security all at once.

It was a shameful and shocking development for an industrialized country that purports to be the leader of the free world and a champion of human rights. And that’s exactly why Patagonia’s executives didn’t hesitate to draw a line in the sand.

Unfazed by the knowledge that more than half of U.S. states will likely restrict abortion over the coming months, Patagonia made it clear that its U.S. health plans cover abortion care along with travel, lodging and food expenses if employees must travel out of their home state to obtain the service.

Patagonia, though, didn’t stop there. It also raised the bar on corporate social responsibility by offering “training and bail for those who peacefully protest for reproductive justice” along with child-care supports for parents.

“Caring for employees is the responsibility of business,” Patagonia stated. “That means offering employees the dignity of access to reproductive health care. It means supporting employees’ choices around if or when they have a child.”

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. showed similar resolve even as police clashed with pro-choice activists and journalists across the United States.

“We stand with women,” the entertainment giant said on Instagram. “We are supporting community activism and will cover bail expenses if any of our employees are arrested for protesting peacefully.”

Political blowback be damned. Patagonia and Live Nation understand that the erosion of abortion rights will come at a steep cost to all businesses and the broader U.S. economy.

Not only will it make it harder for women, especially those who are impoverished, to participate in the work force as the economy lurches toward a recession, but there are very real concerns that other hard-fought rights – ranging from birth control to same-sex marriage – could crumble next.

Now let’s contrast their corporate leadership with the fecklessness of Canada’s business community, which has largely opted to remain silent in the face of injustice – even though many of those same companies just got through their annual performance ritual of telling LGBTQ employees to have the courage to bring their whole selves to work.

Kudos to early movers including Sun Life Financial Inc., Manulife Financial Corp., Bank of Nova Scotia, Nuvei Corp., Bank of Montreal, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Their executive teams are walking the talk on women’s rights.

But far too many other Canadian companies with substantial U.S. operations are still dithering about enhancing health benefits for their U.S. employees – forget about covering bail. Some of these companies are ducking press inquiries or providing non-committal statements even though it’s been nearly two weeks since the Supreme Court ruling.

It’s embarrassing.

Canadian chief executives have had months to prepare for this moment given that Politico published an exclusive on the Supreme Court’s draft opinion in May. Unless you were living under a rock, it was impossible to miss the story and the ensuing outrage.

That’s why it is inexcusable that Canadian CEOs are still stalling on taking a position on abortion rights. A long list of American companies have announced plans to expand health benefits, including travel costs for out-of-state abortions.

Canadian companies with U.S. operations should also redirect their philanthropic efforts to support pro-choice charities in the United States. After all, the poorest of the poor will suffer the most.

At the very least, self-interest should prompt holdout companies to take action. It should be obvious to CEOs that eliminating federal abortion rights will deal yet another blow to the teetering American economy – a key growth market for many Canadian businesses.

“I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the U.S. Senate Banking Committee back in May.

One would think that advancing women’s labour-force participation would be a top priority for our business leaders given current labour shortages.

It’s almost as if our corporate leaders learned nothing from the unsettling “she-cession” that unfolded early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. That experience should have taught them that women’s financial insecurity worsens any economic shock.