Just after the Texas GOP's near-total abortion ban (S.B.8) officially took effect last September, companies like Uber, Lyft, Bumble, and Match parachuted into the political fray by providing their Texas-based employees with benefits packages designed to dampen the impact of the bill. Uber and Lyft, for instance, created legal defense funds for drivers who might be sued for providing rides to abortion doctors. And Match, which owns Tinder, a created relief fund for staffers and their dependents seeking to get an abortion outside the Lone Star State. This week, Citigroup and Yelp vowed to cover similar out-of-state care for their employees, a move that no doubt reinforces Corporate America's veneer of progressivism as more Republican-led states – like Idaho, Oklahoma, Arizona, South Dakota – join the race to pass draconian restrictions.
But campaign finance records reveal that at least four out of the six named companies donated heavily to anti-abortion Republicans over the past three decades, underscoring the ongoing disconnect between Corporate America's professed principles and its pocketbook.
