Abortion is about to become a corporate issue

If the leaked draft opinion holds, the Supreme Court is on the precipice of overturning Roe v. Wade—and 50 years of precedent. The decision would have an incredibly negative effect on women’s health care—depending on what state you live in. The draft decision makes it clear the Court wants to leave it up to legislative bodies to make decisions about women’s bodies.

(If I sound angry about this, it’s because I am.)

Many conservative states are lining up to ban abortion completely within their borders, while some blue states are aiming to guarentee it as a right. This state-by-state approach will inevitably force corporate America into discussions about women’s health care.

We’ve already seen companies get dragged into state-level fights. Georgia’s voting rights restrictions and Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill gained notoriety at least in part because of how companies like Coca-Cola and Disney, respectively, were dragged into taking a stand on those issues—not necessarily willingly. If the initial reaction to the draft decision is to be believed, expect even more public pressure about abortion rights.

If I could have picked a public policy issue corporate leaders would be the most hesitant to weigh in on, this would have been it. But they’re about to be dragged in to this debate in a bad way.